Health centres agreement to be implemented

The health authorities have decided to implement an agreement reached with the doctors' union last month, which will see two health centres manned by part-timers or doctors working on overtime in the afternoons.

This was the third agreement revolving around health centres reached in less than a month.

Although the new agreement, reached late last week, will not change the opening hours of Malta's seven health centres, it is expected to relieve the pressure on doctors.

During a meeting between the authorities and the Medical Association of Malta it was agreed that while doctors would continue manning the Qormi and Rabat clinics in the afternoon, as part of their roaster, from today the government would either bring in part-time doctors or pay them overtime to man the Cospicua and Ġzira centres. All four centres will still close at 5 p.m.

The three other clinics - Floriana, Paola and Mosta - would continue to be manned round the clock according to the roster, MAM president Martin Balzan told The Times.

"This is a reasonable solution," he said, adding this was a temporary agreement and a long-term solution could only be achieved through reform in primary health care.

Last month, the doctors' union had threatened to order a full-blown strike unless authorities honoured an agreement reached a few days earlier, which would see the Gżira health centre stop operating at night and doctors manning two of four clinics in the afternoon.

The agreement had been brokered by Employment and Industrial Relations director Noel Vella following a dispute over the shortage of doctors in the government clinics.

But a few days later the doctors' representatives walked out of a meeting with Social Policy Minister John Dalli after he presented options to keep all clinics open, including at night, using the present complement of 69 doctors.

This had been interpreted by Dr Balzan as a government retraction of the agreement and the union threatened to order a strike across the health services. This was averted the following day after another agreement was reached to close the Gżira health centre at 5 p.m. and deploy doctors to Paola, Floriana and Mosta - the three 24-hour clinics. The two sides had decided to implement the first agreement if no better deal was reached by yesterday.

The association will be holding an extraordinary general meeting tonight to discuss a number of other pending issues, including a shortage of doctors at Mater Dei's emergency department, Dr Balzan said.