The Prime Minister has declined to react to a claim by a former health minister that the 2007 doctors’ accord with the government was signed due to “orders from above” despite serious misgivings from the Health Division.
There is always room for improvement and discussion
The claim was made to The Times last week by Nationalist MP Louis Deguara, who was health minister when the doctors’ collective agreement was signed in November 2007.
However, the Prime Minister’s spokesman did not address the former health minister’s comment when asked for a reaction by The Sunday Times. Instead he spoke of the positive impact the agreement had on encouraging young doctors to remain in Malta rather than pursuing their profession abroad.
“There is no doubt there has been substantial and significant progress registered in the national health services since the signing of the 2007 agreement,” the spokesman said.
He noted that the accord helped improve the opportunities for doctor specialisation in Malta and increase the number of operations, which served “to plug the waiting lists problem”.
The spokesman added there was always room for improvement and discussions were ongoing between the Health Ministry and doctors.
Questions as to why Dr Gonzi wanted the agreement signed in 2007 and whether he felt it was a mistake remained unanswered.
Without elaborating, Dr Deguara blamed “orders from above” for the signing of the accord despite the Health Division never agreeing to the final draft. “We knew it was seriously flawed,” he said.
Dr Deguara was reacting to recent comments by Health Minister Joe Cassar, who said the 2007 agreement was flawed because it gave rise to unfavourable work practices.
Working practices enshrined by the agreement mean that a vast majority of consultants work until 1 p.m., something Dr Cassar would like to change as part ofa strategy to tackle the problem of bed shortages at Mater Dei hospital.
The Health Minister has proposed that doctors and consultants work afternoon shifts so that the Outpatients Department could remain open until 5.15 p.m.
Doctors’ representatives have acknowledged that the uptake of afternoon shifts could improve but urged the government to make it financially more attractive.
However, the Medical Association of Malta’s suggestion to pay consultants better overtime rates for afternoon shifts raised the ire of the nurses’ union, which asked to be treated in the same way.
On Friday MAM expressed surprise at Dr Deguara’s comments. It said there was a consistent annual increase of 10 per cent in operations since the agreement and the number of outpatient visits doubled to more than 400,000 per year.
ksansone@timesofmalta.com