Doctors' industrial action to hit four health centres

Dear Messers Grixti & Aquilina your arguments are the mirror image of the situation. This is not an Us and Them situation. The public gets frustrated waiting endlessly in queues and some elements tend to get aggressive, while the overworked staff is also frustrated and some elements tend to take it out on the public. When both meet, the situation may get out of hand. But all this is not the problem, it is one, arguably the worst, effect of the problem. The real problem is the shortage of staff. And we must not forget that it may be shortage of any category, because they can all cause bottlenecks.

@Mario Aquilina @G.Mangion

It is very unethical and very irresponsible to speak about doctors and nurses in this way. My cousin works at the Emergency and with the shortage of Doctors she has to work for long hours sometimes even without a break as clearly explained by Dr Griscti. We must not have blinkers in our eyes and condemn all persons who strike because their rights are abused.Honestly the doctors are doing their utmost to support patients and are really treated bad the system!!!

Every drastic thing you can imagine happened - the strike made by transport workers-strike made by the nurses-strike made by the drivers of the ambulances-strike made by the technicians in government schools-strike made by the learning support assistants-strike made by the teachers and now finally the Doctors are taking industrial action. At this stage or the government keep his promises with all these sectors or resign. Every party before the election must make honest promises that can really achieve them not creating all these shocks to our economy.

It is always like this, when an election is near no matter which !!! bsaten Fir - Roti Biss,
M.A.M Complains about shortage of staff maybe so too.
what they should take notice to, is there are health centres that are Overcrowded with personnel to, and some of them are not giving a damn to the to the Patients ! Shame,Shame,Shame, Every honest Person knows that a big reshuffle must be done at all
health centres, to The best of the personnel & the Public in General.

@M.Aquilina

The reason we get abuse in A&E and health centres has nothing to do with us.,& ALL to do with YOU (the public)!!! Our working hours are long, stressful and often performed without a SINGLE break. While most Health organizations recommend a 30min break every four hours,we usually never stopped until A&E was clear or manageable,& that usually meant that we wouldn't be able to stop at ALL!!!And for that we received abuse because many Maltese would get annoyed for having to wait for more than an hour. The only people who didn't complain,as a rule were the people with genuine problems, especially the elderly who could SEE that we were off our feet constantly. It is ungrateful people like you, Mr. Aquilina who hurl the very-much undeserved abuse. And also it is people like you who encourage doctors like me to leave the country and go to places where my hard work is appreciated by my patients,rewarded in a proper salary,& abusers brought to justice: in the meantime this problem of doctor shortage confounds further. You should appreciate those doctors&nurses who choose to stay in Malta,& work HARD to treat ungrateful individuals like yourself!

Lawrence Gonzi`s fingerprints are all over a disaster made in Malta
We are witnessing a burst of old-fashioned pre-election giveaways to hide the Government's epic blunders

Four health centres closed....shortage of staff.....never ending waiting lists.....pharmacy of your choice service shelved.....lack of and abnormally expensive medicines...www.ourhealthisatrisk.com GONZIPN...flimkien kollox possibbli

Here we go again. Doctors industrial action will not hit four health centres. These are made of stone. This industrial action will hit human beings and human beings who have some health problem. I fully agree that since Mater Dei Hospital Opened we have been having to much work to rule etc etc., When are the nurses, doctor shortages going to be solved?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Remember b gonzi mohhok mistrih?

Had the MAM not refused the excellent initiative of setting up the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland in Malta then there would be no shortage. Thank you MAM.

Who is running the Health Department? If it`s not MAM is the UHM, since Mater Dei opened its doors all we hear is `working to rule`. Although I sympathize wih the unions to degree, but there exist a health problem. Only yesterday at Luqa Health Centre there were some 90 people waiting behind close doors, the time was exactly 10.10am, people were given a number and were told that at 11.00am the service will cease, you have to came tomorrow.
There was an 82 year old man with heart problems and out of medicine, he was in tears.The question is: Where is the Ministry in all this? Blatantly people were told that the alternative is to buy the medicine at the Chemist. Shame...Shame ...Shame.

Is the real shortage cause of doctors and nurses given the needed attention?

In my opinion - NO.

Verbal and physical abuse:

Most government places, such like health centres, councils, and the housing authority, just to mention a few, have signs put up against this treat. Some have security guards installed, others have the police.

If they did their job properly, and gave us public the service that we deserve, then there is no need for the above. Unfortunately, there is too many headless chickens within the government departments.