Health Minister warns nurses

Health Minister Joe Cassar yesterday issued a stern warning to nurses following union directives, saying they could face disciplinary and legal steps if they acted illegally such as by failing to administer life saving treatment to patients during a power blackout.

He said directives issued by the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses were calling on nurses to act “illegally” because they were legally bound to behave in the interest of patients.

Among other directives, the union has instructed nurses at Mount Carmel Hospital to leave the wards if there is a power failure in protest at the fact that there is no generator back-up to cover the whole complex.

“If a nurse acts illegally, then disciplinary measures or legal action will be taken,” Dr Cassar said.

MUMN president Paul Pace insisted there was nothing illegal about the directives, saying Dr Cassar was using “political bluff” to intimidate nurses.

“The directives are actually of benefit to patients because nurses are concentrating on their nursing duties,” he said. Mr Pace said administering any form of treatment, including CPR, was impossible and dangerous in pitch darkness.

He urged the government to focus on solving the nurses’ shortage by addressing the numerus clausus at the University rather than threatening nurses with legal action.

Over the past few weeks, the MUMN has been taking industrial action at Mater Dei and Mount Carmel hospitals in protest at various issues that include the shortage of nurses, the shelving of new services and the absence of a power generator at Mount Carmel.

The union is refusing to say what conditions it expects the government to satisfy before calling off its directives.

The industrial action escalated last week when nurses were instructed not to pick up medicines from the Mount Carmel pharmacy, to leave the ward if patients became aggressive due to missing treatment and not to give the treatment that was brought to the ward by subcontracted nurses. This last directive was later altered and nurses were instructed to administer the medicines in their wards independently of who brought them.

The MUMN said yesterday it had lifted industrial action four months ago, on the government’s request, in order to start negotiations.

In May, it had suspended industrial action planned to begin in hospital. Back then, it was complaining that health and safety measures were not being respected, posing risks to both patients and nurses. The action was lifted when the ministry said it would review the practices in place and take corrective measures.

The union said various issues had not been solved and it felt “betrayed” by the government. For this reason, it was insisting it would not lift directives before solutions were actually found.

Dr Cassar said that, going by government policy, he would not negotiate with the union until the industrial action was lifted “as a sign of goodwill”. “If the actions are lifted at 12.01 a.m., we are ready to start meetings at 12.02 a.m.,” he said adding that the government and the union would first have to identify the priority issues and try to solve them accordingly.

Reacting, Mr Pace said the “policy” mentioned by Dr Cassar did not exist. He reminded the government that informal meetings were also an option.