The Medical Association (MAM), said today it was disappointed that the Health Ministry was failing to honour a 2007 agreement on promotions for resident specialists.

"The government is sending a message to young doctors that there is no future for them in Malta," the doctors' union said in a statement.

It explained that 15 promotions to the post of designate consultant which were included in the November 2007 agreement had still not been issued.

"It is completely unacceptable in a democracy in the European Union where a government should be a model employer, that contractual obligations within a collective agreement are not respected. This attitude will only lead to militancy and continuous industrial unrest in a particular sector," the MAM said.

It added that a considerable number of posts at the level of higher specialist trainee seemed to have been frozen indefinitely due to financial reasons.

"By blocking the promotions of these senior specialists, besides perpetrating a blatant injustice to those doctors who have given long years of service to the Maltese public, the government is sending a clear message to all young doctors ‐ that staying in Malta is a dead end and it is better to leave the country in the long run."

The association warned that the government's attempts to establish post-graduate training programmes and the foundation programme for newly graduated doctors would not be successful in retaining doctors in Malta if career progression was blocked.

It said the MAM council would be presenting a motion in the next extra ordinary general meeting on June 15 in support of those doctors and it was ready to take any action which was needed to support their cause.