A doctors' strike was averted yesterday after the doctors union and the government reached an agreement - the second in six days.
Healthcare services at the Gżira health centre will stop at 5 p.m. for the next three weeks under the new agreement, as doctors are deployed to Paola, Floriana and Mosta - the three 24-hour clinics.
The Medical Association of Malta had threatened strike action over a shortage of doctors and their redeployment.
The government and MAM have also decided to go back to the negotiating table to discuss an agreement reached last week.
Social Policy Minister John Dalli and union president Martin Balzan agreed during a 90-minute meeting yesterday that last Monday's agreement, which was at the centre of controversy in recent days after MAM accused the government of going back on its word, will be implemented if no better deal is reached by June 15.
The agreement states that health centre doctors will only man two out of four (Gżira, Qormi, Rabat and Cospicua) clinics in the afternoon while the Gżira clinic would close in the evening.
The government has also bound itself to inform the medical association of the changes it proposes, which will not include farming out existing public GP services to private healthcare providers.
On May 16, Mr Dalli announced a three-month agreement with Saint James Hospital to provide medical cover for patients affected by directives issued to doctors, instructing them not to man half of Malta's health centres.
Although the directives were lifted after a day, the dispute flared up again last Thursday when association officials walked out of a meeting with Mr Dalli after he presented them with a set of proposals to keep health centres open. On Friday evening the association's council gave the green light for a full-blown strike.
In a letter to Cabinet ministers later, Dr Balzan said MAM had been "inevitably pushed" to order major industrial action in the health sector and asked whether it was the government's policy not to recognise signed formal agreements and attempt to renegotiate them after they had been signed.
However, the threat of a strike was lifted yesterday afternoon and Dr Balzan said Tuesday's urgent general meeting for doctors was likely to be postponed to June 15.
The agreement reached yesterday will not have an impact on any proposals or decisions related to the proposed reforms in primary health care, which will be discussed separately.
Yesterday's agreement was brokered by Union Ħaddiema Magħqudin president Gejtu Tanti, who acted as mediator.