A union directive ordering nurses not to prepare covering letters for the provision of certain medicines was “abusive, irresponsible and illegal”, doctors complained in a judicial protest.

The Medical Association of Malta, which represents doctors, called on the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses to withdraw the directive it feels could negatively impact patients.

Covering letters have to be filled to obtain from the hospital pharmacy expensive medicine and treatments often administered intravenously to seriously ill patients. The forms are filled by nurses but require a doctor’s signature.

On Saturday, the union said the covering letters were useless pieces of paper that complicated bureaucracy.

As of November 1, nurses and midwives would no longer be preparing the covering letters and chasing doctors’ signatures.

They would only fill standard forms necessary to obtain normal medicine.

Nurses and midwives were legally and morally bound to observe the protocol to ensure patients’ safety

The doctors’ union filed the judicial protest in the First Hall of the Civil Court against MUMN president Paul Pace, its secretary Colin Galea and chief medical officer Dennis Vella Baldacchino.

The MAM said midwives and nurses were instructed to stop following the covering letter protocol that had been in place for years to provide for checks and balances, ensure the efficient use of medicines and allow for an audit trail.

It argued that the union’s directive was abusive, irresponsible and illegal given that nurses and midwives were legally and morally bound to observe the protocol to ensure patients’ safety.

Moreover, the directive was issued when there was no industrial dispute registered according to law.

The MAM said it could not be held responsible for health risks faced by patients, pointing a finger at the nurses’ union, urging it to withdraw the directive.

Lawyer Robert Abela signed the protest.

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