UPDATE 2: MAM reports contacts through an intermediary
The Cospicua health centre.
Updated 3.45 p.m.
The MAM has reported ongoing contacts with the government over its dispute over the shortage of doctors in health centres, but no breakthrough has been achieved yet.
The MAM this morning launched industrial action by directing doctors who normally work at the Qormi, Cospicua and Rabat health centres to report for work in other health centres.
MAM president Martin Balzan this morning said the response had been a complete success, adding that the MAM had warned the Social policy Ministry that intimidation against its members had to stop.
Contacted this afternoon, Dr Balzan said contacts with the ministry were continuing.
"We are continuing contacts through an intermediary who has been involved for the past two to three days, but I cannot report progress so far," Dr Balzan said.
The directives were issued after the MAM complained that a long-standing shortage of doctors in health centres had not been solved. Social Policy Minister John Dalli last week acknowledged the shortage but insisted doctors also needed to improve productivity through better work practices.
The MAM ordered the doctors at Qormi, Cospicua and Rabat health centres to instead work at Mosta, Floriana and Paola health centres. The directive also affected Gzira health centre, where doctors will only work in the morning.
The MAM in a statement this morning said it welcomed comments by Dr Josie Muscat and Capua Hospital that they did not wish to be involved in the dispute.
The union said the government had informed it that plans for night services to be given from St James/Capua hospitals in lieu of the health centres had been suspended.
The union said it was awaiting positive government proposals for its actions to be suspended.
Meanwhile, the Social Policy Ministry this morning published a latter sent to the MAM last night by the Director-General of Health. He said that the ministry had developed two scenarios for the deployment of doctors across the primary health department.
The first scenario considered existing work practices while the second considered the centralisation of home visits using a central pool of doctors and shift of all prescriptions (yellow and pink cards) from health centres to bereg (health offices) with the consequential deployment of additional doctors to the health offices.
Dr Cachia said that in the interest of avoiding undue hardship to patients, the government was suspending the implementation of its plans for a week, in the hope that the MAM would show goodwill and suspend its directives so that the issue could be taken to conciliation where the two scenarios could be studied in detail.
EP candidate voices concern
Concern at the situation developing between the Medical Association of Malta and the government was expressed by Nationalist MEP candidate Frank Portelli.
Dr Portelli urged MAM to consider the Prime Minister’s plea during the PN general council meeting yesterday. The Prime Minister had said that the government was prepared to compromise in order to resolve the situation.
"Disputes involving the medical sector invariably hurt patients and therefore all sides should do their utmost to resolve these matters around a discussion table and thus avoiding industrial actions In the circumstances. If necessary, a mediator should be found to act as a go between the government and MAM," he added.
Dr Portelli said that the ultimate aim of doctors and the government was to alleviate pain and suffering and not to increase them.
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Andrew Cassar
May 18th 2009, 20:16
@G Mangion Tell us Mr Mangion...from which country do you intend to "import" doctors. Which EU doctor would choose Malta over Germany or the UK? Malta used to have loads of eastern europeans working as surgeons, anaesthetists and radiologists....but these have all disapeared since they joined the EU. The government has been unable to recruit further. Please, please tell us from where you intend to get doctors.Since we joined EU every single call for application has this paragraph: " 5. By the closing time and date of this call for applications, applicants must be: (a) (i) citizens of Malta; or (ii) citizens of another European Union Member State; or (iii) citizens of other countries to which the EU provisions on free movement of persons apply; or (iv) the spouse and children, even if they a........." And guess what.......do see any foreign doctors in health centres??
C.Zarb
May 18th 2009, 18:51
And do you really think that EU doctors would want to come to work in Malta? We are finding it hard to even employ doctors from Ukraine let alone England and France. The conditions here are ridiculous and so is the salary. This country has no extra money to invest on doctors, nurses, teachers etc. Yet don't worry the government had found the neccessary money to increase the MP salaries. So rest assured, that people like John Dalli and Austin Gatt will remain.
G. Mangion
May 18th 2009, 18:28
@ Adrian Cachia you are wrong ! nowadays Doctors from anywhere in the World have no communication problems, in fact there are a couple of them already giving some very good service at the health centres.truth is that any time the Gov't, As Mr a abela well said, (Lets get doctors from other eu countries if there is shortage over here.) MAM is only Creating a more difficult Health situation to patients, and not the Gov't which, IT'S AIM IS.
K Zammit
May 18th 2009, 18:08
@Joseph E Briffa I'm afraid that it IS the government's fault. PN has been in government for the past 20 years, and the shortage of doctors too. If Airmalta only has 2 pilots it would fly only one plane....and you wouldn't blame the pilots for refusing to fly a plane each would you? Or would you accuse the pilots of letting the passengers down? If the government has 40 GPs...it must offer the service of 40 GPs and not of 110! If the goverment want 110 doctors it must put incentives for the recruitment of more doctors. In the mean time it must tell the general public that it must cut back on services. The fee of a private GP in Malta is the lowest in europe, so the government can't complain that he finds it hard to offer good conditions to GPs in public service!
Galea. L
May 18th 2009, 18:03
a abela So all hell was let loose when Mintoff brought doctors from other countries and now it is ok for the PN government to do the same! Hypocrisy at its best. M ichael Seychell So do you expect your clerk at the income Tax department to do the work of four clerks Seychell? MAM did the right thing because a doctor cannot do the work of four doctors and still give a decent service. MAM tried to concentrate the doctors in a few polyclinics in order for the doctors to better serve the public and not continue the sham service due to the CRASS INCOMPETENCE of your Gonzi.
Andrew Cassar
May 18th 2009, 17:52
Dear a abela, I don't know where you have been living for the past 5 years....but Malta is in the EU and all job openings are open for ALL EU citizens. Wonder of wonders no EU doctors are applying for the advertised jobs!!! I leave it up to you to guess why.
P. Schembri
May 18th 2009, 17:31
@J.Micallef. Are you caught in a time warp? We're in 2009 not 1977. It was during those labour years that there were daily strikes!!!! But then they were to topple a legitimate government.
paul zammit
May 18th 2009, 17:31
1-For those saying that the government should employ more foreign doctors well he is attempting (which is a positive thing) but who will come for poorer work conditions and worse pay (eastern european doctors included)? 2-The strike is not about pay conditions in the first place but regards staffing compliments which are not sufficient 3- If anyone thinks that doctors earn a large salary they are mistaken... starting pay for junior doctors is just a bit better than serving staff in fast-food restaurants and doesnt increase much when one's career progresses (unlike the responsibility)
Herbert Guillaumier
May 18th 2009, 17:21
I bet that Tom, Dick and Harry will forever be the losers in such actions.
j micallef
May 18th 2009, 17:09
Did anyone, by any chance, notice that every Tom, Dick and Harry seem to be going out on strike or threathening to do so, as an election looms nearer round the corner? I half expect my barber to go on strike too, before June 6 !! Remember the Celentano ballad "Chi non lavora......." ? How apt this song is at this time in our fair land of mickey mouse operettas!
a abela
May 18th 2009, 16:36
Lets get doctors from other eu countries if there is shortage over here.
An international call of applications should be made.
Jason P.Caruana
May 18th 2009, 16:33
@Joseph Cauchi
Doctors are still going to "care for the sick and those in need", because they will be working at other health centres....that is why they striking because they are only 40 doctors doing a job of 110. They are asking for more doctors not more money.
J. Galea
May 18th 2009, 16:29
@Joseph Cauchi
What Money are you speaking about?
Andrew Cassar
May 18th 2009, 16:26
@Joseph Cauchi
It is very obvious from your post that you lack the basic skill of reading an article.....you attack doctors for supposedly putting money before patients....when there is absolutely no mention of money in the article!!!! MAM has ordered industrial action so YOU get a better service at health centres, so YOU don't have to wait for ages to see a doctor. They are doing their normal work from 2 health centres that's all!!
Robert Cuschieri
May 18th 2009, 16:22
@G. Mangion
Dear Mr Mangion. The situation since the 70's and Mintoff has changed a lot.
No doctor from Europe(be West or East) will come to Malta at the moment because salaries all over Europe have gone up compared to Malta.
Perhaps if you are such an expert, you could go and recruit some doctors yourself.
Adrian Cachia
May 18th 2009, 16:20
@ Joseph Cauchi - I do not know if you have any doctors in family but I assure you they are all dedicated otherwise they would not be doing that job especially at the health centres. If you can read properly the doctors have not stopped working but are giving service from the other centres.
@K.Tanti - There will surely be the amount of doctors required to run the three health centres as should be!!
Chiara Wood
May 18th 2009, 15:42
@G Mangion
Where do you think the government can find doctor to come work for a pittance in Malta? Do you have the faintest idea how much a GP earns in the UK for example? And over there a doctor does the work of one doctor...and not of three!
Some Libyan or Chinese doctors? I'm sure that people would be flocking to health centres to see these doctors!!!
A Cassar
May 18th 2009, 15:32
@Joe Falzon
Please, tell us what hefty increase in salary polyclinic doctors have had.....
Please, tell us.....we are all waiting eagerly!!
Don't worry, will accept an appology if you don't know....or were only guessing
J. Debono
May 18th 2009, 14:47
@Joe Falzon
The directive was a success because at Floriana Health Centre at least, waiting time to see a doctor was reduced to practically 0.
Now that is a free competent service!!
Leo Said
May 18th 2009, 14:26
In the past months, and possibly again this week, doctors in Germany, who practice outside of hospitals, have gone on strike because they apparently wish better conditions.
A doctors' strike is of course always a disadvantage for most patients but the doctors' trade confederations in Germany invariably ascertain a fully functional medical care service during the respective periods of strike.
Considering the status quo in Malta, doctors' strikes in Malta are licit, if not imperative. Two main reasons would be that (1) patients be made aware that excellence in medical care cannot be a freebie and that NI contributions in Malta are far from adequate to sustain an excellent service and (2) that government, regardless of political colour, wakes up to its responsibilities re health care and re administration of health care services.
As from tomorrow, doctors in Germany will be holding their annual conference. I do not know whether Dr.Martin Balzan will be attending the conference, as he has done in previous years. Dr.Balzan would certainly win aspects of policies, which MAM could use in Malta.
Private hospitals should per se keep out of any industrial dispute between MAM and government.
Anne Bon
May 18th 2009, 14:18
@ E Gatt
You do notice that unlike before, graduating from medical school now doesn't make you a GP. The latter involves a 3/4yr specialisation programme.
Also the doctors all leaving has been partially potentially solved now that thanks to some dedicated doctors the Foundation Programme will be implimented in Malta. Before staying meant spending 2yrs working, now it involves teaching and assessment, so u cant blame past graduates for wanting to leave for a better stuctured housemanship.
Also having more Dr's doesn't mean there will be more GP's.
Joseph E Briffa
May 18th 2009, 13:56
It appears that the main problem is the lack of enough doctors to man the health centres not the government's unwillingness to employ more doctors. If that is the case then it's not the government's fault and MAM is barking at the wrong tree. Can MAM spellout exactly what it hopes to achieve by industrial action..higher pay for the health centres' doctors, less hours of work, better conditions? This would be helpful for the public to form an opinion..whether the health authorities are dragging their feet or MAM is asking far too much. One thing stands out: MAM is not attracting the people's sympathy. Doctors should remember they are professional people and they should act in a professional manner at all times ( 'non nuocere' is the motto); besides being workers doctors and nurses are also following a vocation. Doctors are not dockers, or shiprepairers, or bus drivers.
J Farrugia
May 18th 2009, 13:52
The MAM President is shouting INTIMIDATION!!!!!! Well here is the title of today's issue of The Times: MAM WARNS 'STRIKE BREAKERS'. MAM President Dr Balzan is intimidating St James Hospital by urgiong it not to help the government in taking care of the patients which for the government come first and foremost. Who is intimidating whom? Dr Balzan had better put his mind and soul on his job more careful than he is doing at present. Why doesn't he want the government ot provide urgent medical care for those who need it? What lies behind the MAM's proposals? This is not the MAM 0f 1976. So what's cooking MAM? Doctors aren't made just like that , by clikcing your fingers. Doctors take years and years to study and become such and even then, they know almost nothing. Practice is essential. So what's cooking MAM.
Mario Busuttil
May 18th 2009, 13:35
OH what a hit by MAM,if you are clever enough to continue the industrial actions you must not act like that, to give directives for choosing the clinics you want so the government should not punish you for illegal actions ,but still remember that by the law you are essential and you can't leave a clinic without a doctor and put extra in another so in bracets{ the pay will be not deducted!} and the actions will meant as no strike. And if the government refuse the extra Doctors that were ordered by MAM in the clinics mentioned ,than the government will take the whole blame as always....MAM can discuss and make things simple not worst as this time the issue is notgoing to be easy i think between Gov and MAM.
Marco Spiteri
May 18th 2009, 13:02
How can you say it is a complete success when it is inconveniencing patients.
You should be ashamed of yourselves !!
CZarb
May 18th 2009, 12:43
@ Mr Falzon.
Then we should stop worker's right to make strikes and revert to a totalitarian government. I mean every strike will hurt people either by one way or another.
And its not just the doctors who had been given increases. The MPs wages had been increased by 290 euros per week. The result of it? More illegal immigration, more taxes, less efficiency. I guess thats why we are paying MPs for am I right?
@ Mr Mangion
The Government has been trying to attract foreign doctors to come to Malta for years. Unfortunately after evaluated the doctor's conditions in Malta, very few of them had accepted the deal.
A BEzzina
May 18th 2009, 12:40
If you see the ridiculous pay the junior doctors get for working at least 80 hours a week you wouldnt be so judgemental. This government should pay doctors decently. Does he know what they go through to become doctors? Their job is a vocation but if he expects them to give up their private practices and live on the salary he gives them he must be living in cloud cuckoo land.
L. Farrugia
May 18th 2009, 12:24
@joe falzon
What "hefty sum" did doctors get before the election??
May I point out to you, in case you didn't read the article....doctors are not asking for a pay rise.
They are asking that the service offered by primary healthcare reflects the number of doctors. If you are happy with one doctor doing the work of 3 doctors.....then I think that you are the one who doesn't care for patients.
P. Schembri
May 18th 2009, 12:09
@J. Falzon. Today you cry crocodile tears for the patients. Why didn't you cry the same tears in 1977 onwards when the same medical profession went on strike? Or those days there weren't any patients in hospitals but animals?
But what you don't say, or your party doesn't say is that the same medical profession, showed its true colours when the PN was elected in government. They entered back to work without one iota of change. The conditions that they asked for vanished when the PN was elected.
Now 20 years later, the condition is worse. And you dare to say that the patients should come first?
M ichael Seychell
May 18th 2009, 12:00
In all probability Dr. Balzan and his committee must be around their 40's and therefore do not remember the way Mintoff treated the doctors.!
As an ex trade unionist I opione that the type of actiopn ordered by your union is not in conformity with the Emp./Ind. legislations. Whilst a strike, work to rule, sympathy strikes and banning overtime are a right of any trade union, I do not believe that the legislation would accept instructing its members to report for work in a different place as sheduled by his employer. This is tantamount to saying that a clerk working at the Income Tax deptartment, is ordered toeport for work at Ghammieri, or even worse a trusted messenger at the OPM is ordered to report for work as a messenger with the Leader of the Opposition.
On intimidation I would have accertained all the facts before I make such statement as there copuld be elements from bothh sidfes who might have interest to throw more wood on the fire.
I wiash that both sides will move from rigid stances and meet around the negotiating table and not around the discussing table - the difference is obvious.
K Tanti
May 18th 2009, 11:25
Dr Balzan, how many doctors will be at each of the 3 health centres now?
Joseph Cauchi
May 18th 2009, 11:18
Dear Doctors on strike,
What happened to your vocation to care for the sick and those in need?
Or perhaps, now money is more important than the care of the afflicted?
We all know that we are living in a society that is based on consumerism, but I never expect from supposed intelligent and dedicated professionals to stoop so low as to prioritise their demands for material wealth, over the needs of the patients!
Selfishness knows no bounds!
../..
Francesca Abela
May 18th 2009, 11:17
MAM do you call 'success' hitting when the patients are bearing the brunt of your actions. Someone once said that whenever Unions decide to strike their action should hit directly the government in question and not at the third parties who invariably get inconvenienced. It would also be a good idea should Unions in general first see what their obligations are before asking for more and more rights. No one ever said 'I will refrain from asking for more benefits, and make some sacrifices from my end' for a change, due to the current worldwide situation . Funny how Unions seem to be more activewhen there are some sort of elections forthcoming. Seems to be a pattern to put government in a bad light anyway.
KCassar
May 18th 2009, 11:15
@joe falzon , G Mangion
And where exactly do you find these doctors? From Disneyland or Never Never land?
You must be joking....government cannot even find doctors from eastern european countries to fill up surgery and anaesthesia posts!!!
carmel zammit
May 18th 2009, 11:04
mela sew issa qieghed tidu biex il gvern jaghmel bhal ma ghamel mintoff ghax gejtu darkhom mall hajt fitxu sibu soluzjoni ghal gid tal poplu centru tas sahha bla tobba hu semplici clinic in nurses ma jistawx jiehdu certi mizuri jekk ma jkunx hemm tabib jekk alla hares tinqalla cpr go health centre(li hu facli ghax hemm pazjenti immoro) ghara il miskin u l familja tieghu din mhemx biki it tobba irridu li meta jaraw pazjent jarawh sew u bla biza il ballun f saqqajn il gvern issa u l mumn missa tat struzzjonijiet lil nurses li qieghdin f dawn il H C (sic clinics0
E Gatt
May 18th 2009, 10:59
The main elements of the problem is that
a) A large percentage of newly graduated doctors leave Malta as their pay can improve significantly. They have every right to do so and I am sure that a PN government , that believes in individual freedom will not interfere here.
b) People in Malta expect everything for free and are reluctant to pay higher taxes to fund increased salaries (although the government and MAM did agree to a number of improved conditions last year)
c) Private health schemes have not been encouraged enough to relieve pressure on government health services and also to encourage doctors to stay in Malta.
Finally, Dr Balzan might have got carried away comparing the situation to the Mintoff days – some of us remember those scenes at St Lukes, Auberge de Castile and the suffering that doctors and patients went through in 1977.
Adrian Cachia
May 18th 2009, 10:57
@Joe Falzon - You are wrong the doctors in the health centres were not given any increase. They are not depriving the patient of anything. The patients can go to the other health centres which are working normally and better since more doctors are available at these centres now.
@G.Mangion - Doctors from which country?? I was young when that happened but all I know is that people going to the doctors brought in my Mintoff could not even speak proper english and communcation was really poor. Doctors from Eastern European coutnries will only come here to gain experience and use Malta as a step to go to another European Country with a better pay!!! I'd rather be a patient to a maltese then to a foreign doctor. Now it's your call!!
joe falzon
May 18th 2009, 10:30
Certain type of reasoning is really baffling particularly considering that it is expressed by the so-called professional people. I cannot understand how can a directive be defined as complete success when it is directly hitting the health of many patients who direly need the service. Success is SOLELY defined in this sector when efforts are made to 'care and help' people in their ailments and not the contrary.
By the way, these are the same people who have been granted hefty sums of money and increases prior to the election. There action is however a real success in the sense that it is an eye opener to everyone that the country needs to look beyond its shores (as was actually done in the past) to find other people in the health sector who are more concerned about the health of the common citizen than their own personal interest.
G. Mangion
May 18th 2009, 10:15
“We have seen an element of intimidation not seen since the Mintoff years. I have warned the Social Policy Ministry that this cannot go on,” Dr Balzan told timesofmalta.com
He preferred not to describe the manner of intimidation but said that if the intimidation continued, the likelihood was that the industrial action would be escalated ( MAM )
What the Gov't Should Do is like mintoff did !
Bring foreign Doctors , that will stop MAM hijaking the Gov't and the Public Interest Shame MAM Shame !