The doctors’ union is calling an emergency council meeting to discuss the decision to allow ambulance nurses to administer certain medicines.

The “verbal arrangement” between the Health Ministry and the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses is “illegal and compromises patient safety”, said the Medical Association of Malta.

Earlier this week, the ministry announced it reached an agreement with the nurses’ union to allow specialised nurses to administer some types of medicine without a doctor’s prescription when patients were rushed to hospital in an ambulance.

Doctors contested this and will now decide on what further actions to take “on this very serious dispute”.

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