Health Minister Joseph Cassar insisted today that it was government policy that negotiations in industrial disputes did not take place before industrial action was lifted.

The minister was asked to react after the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses (MUMN) said today that it was prepared to hold talks with the government, but was not prepared to suspend current industrial action. It said it had suspended industrial action before, but hardly any meetings were held.

The union is holding industrial action at Mater Dei and Mt Carmel hospitals and health centres, complaining over an acute shortage of nurses.

The minister said there appeared to be a number of issues which first had to be identified, prrioritised and then solved according to those priorities.

The minister was speaking at Mater Dei Hospital where he met three Maltese nurses who have returned from an eight-day exchange visit to Norway. The programme is a collaboration between the Mater Dei Hospital Emergency Department and the European Institute of Education. Three Norwegian paramedics have come to Malta to gain work experience.

Dr Cassar praised the programme for its usefulness for the training of nurses.