Update 2: MUMN says it will not form part of hospital task force

(Adds ministry, MAM statements)

The nurses' union has decided not to take part in a task force set up to deal with the hospital bed shortage. It said its decision was final.

In a letter to Health Minister Joe Cassar, the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses said that it was clear that the climate within the task force was not going to be a healthy one.

The union said it was referring to comments made by Medical Association of Malta president Martin Balzan in The Times that there was no space for militant trade unionism on the task force.

Although he did not mention the MUMN by name, the union said it was clear he was referring to the nurses' union, which boycotted a meeting held between other unions and the health authorities on Monday in protest at the way the government is handling the bed shortage situation at Mater Dei Hospital.

MUMN said it was informed that during the first meeting, Dr Balzan continuously attacked MUMN even though it was not present for the meeting.

The MUMN said it was proud to be militant whenever the need arose. Patients were continuously complaining with nurses about the prevailing situation, and therefore it could not stay quiet.

It could also not keep quiet when faced with the huge difficulties nurses and midwives were facing through this bed shortage crisis.

Nurses and midwives, it said, were the only health care professionals who worked with the patients on a 24-hour basis while other professionals left the hospital even after just five hours of work.

"The MUMN will not allow any union or the Health Division, through the task force, to implement changes that cause more hardships for the patients and the nurses involved. It will again be militant in this regard and will issue the necessary directives if they are needed," the union warned.

It said that, although militant, it was not partisan and its members did not have the financial priorities of other health care professionals.

"Dumping patients like sacks of potatoes in corridors of wards or in St Vincent de Paule is to be condemned.

"The MUMN will not be part of such decision process," it said.

The union said that following Dr Balzan's comments, its council had taken a  unanimous decision not to participate in the task force.

"This decision is final and will not be revoked."

This decision, he said, would not affect its commitment to attend regular meetings with the hospital management and higher authorities within the Health Division.

In another statement this afternoon, the Health Ministry again urged the MUMN to join the task force.

In another statement, the Medical Association of Malta  hoped that all unions wiht a constructive mentality would agree to join the task force.

It said that Dr Balzan had major objections to patients being inferred as, or referred to "a sack of potatoes” especially by a professional union from the health sector.

MAM said that "nothwithstanding MAM accepts that being a public entity MAM can be criticised, it also sees no reason why MUMN cannot accept criticism from whichever quarter, when it is so easy in a democratic enviroment to immediately rebut any argument in the public arena".