Pharmacists Lift Industrial Action While Doctors Brace Themselves For More Strikes
Services at public healthcare pharmacies have returned to normal, bringing to close an industrial dispute which the Union Ħaddiema Maghqudin (UĦM) had first ordered last month.
The UĦM ordered directives to pressure the government to offer higher salaries, more training opportunities and a vision for the pharmacy sector in its new collective agreement. As part of the directives, state pharmacies opened an hour late and closed two hours early, Schedule V cards (karta s-safra) weren’t processed and hospital wards were only given medicine stocks for three days in advance.
Industrial action directives by POYC #Pharmacists lifted by UHM. Many thanks to all involved for the goodwill to find a way forward. Services at #POYC back to normal.
— Chris Fearne (@chrisfearne) February 13, 2018
However, health minister Chris Fearne confirmed this morning on Twitter that UHM has lifted the directives and that services at pharmacies under the Pharmacy Of Your Choice scheme have returned to normal.
As one fire in the health sector has been put out, another one – a dispute between doctors and the government – shows no signs of slowing down. The Malta Medical Association (MAM) yesterday met the government to discuss their concerns over the sale of a concession for three hospitals from Vitals Global Healthcare to US healthcare giant Steward Health Care. Both MAM and Fearne said progress was made on some issues, but not enough to avoid a fresh round of doctors’ strikes – scheduled for Thursday and Friday.