An agreement has been reached “in principle” in the industrial dispute between the doctors’ union and the government over the transfer of three State hospitals from Vitals Global Healthcare to Steward Healthcare.

However, the Medical Association of Malta and the Health Ministry will be meeting again to start drafting a written agreement.

This was confirmed on Wednesday evening by MAM general secretary Martin Balzan at the end of the second round of talks held this week, in an attempt to break the deadlock.

Read: Doctors' union says failure to respect measures agreed upon led to current dispute

While declining to divulge any details about yesterday’s meeting, Dr Balzan noted that “further progress” had been registered following last Monday’s meeting.

“There is agreement on principles and concepts, and we are now working to draft an agreement,” Dr Balzan told the Times of Malta. He added that further talks were scheduled for Friday.

There is agreement on principles and concepts, and we are now working on a draft

However, he warned it would be premature to jump to conclusions, saying that “the devil could be in the details”. Consequently, for the time being, the industrial directives will remain suspended pending further developments.

Read: Doctors get green light to step up industrial action

The MAM is accusing the government of breaching the collective agreement which states that it should have been notified six-weeks in advance over the transfer of St Luke’s, Karin Grech and the Gozo General Hospital from VGH to Steward.

This clause was agreed in May last year, following prolonged negotiations over a new collective agreement, which was sealed s few weeks before the general election. At the time doctors were seeking guarantees over the conditions of work of its members in virtue of the concession given to VGH, which was doing its own recruitment and had even requested the Auditor General to scrutinise the concession.

Despite reaching an agreement, MAM remained critical of the deal and is insisting that government must remain in control of State hospitals, be it in a direct or an indirect manner. Moreover, the union cautioned that this form of public healthcare privatisation could also have serious repercussions for patients.

Last week, doctors held a one-day strike and later approved a resolution to proceed with further industrial action. Though this was scheduled for Thursday and Friday, it was suspended following last Monday’s meeting as a sign of good will by MAM.