The Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses, has said in a statement today that “UHM has issued directives to the Laboratory Technicians working in Mater Dei Hospital to refuse to process essential and urgent blood investigation by not accepting the blood samples through the pneumatic tube system hence no blood results are being issued.”

“This reckless directive is putting the patients’ lives at risk since urgent blood investigations are not being processed at the detriment of the patients’ lives and the critical condition they are currently suffering,” the MUMN said.

The Union stated that “seeing that blood investigations are being refused, nurses and midwives are being constrained to abandon their wards and take the blood samples physically to the laboratory, begging such laboratory technicians to work such urgent blood tests since due to the critical condition of the patients such results could be a matter of life and death for the patient.”

The MUMN said that”in fact the few blood results issued were only thanks to the responsible nurses and midwives who felt that such industrial action is severely effecting the patients’ well being.”

“MUMN’s directives had never impacted neither negatively on the patients’ well being and neither has any MUMN directives had ever impacted on any members belonging to any other union.

“This shows how UHM does not observe and does not merit the respect in any trade unions’ relations which UHM boasts to be a pioneer,” “he MUMN said.

“MUMN being a responsible union, it has instructed all nurses and midwives to continue taking the necessary blood investigations ordered by the doctors and continue sending them to the laboratory through the pneumatic tube system.”

“If due to the UHM’s directives such blood samples are returned back, nurses and midwives are to keep on sending the blood samples of the patients, hopefully that the Laboratory Technicians will finally accept to process such urgent and vital blood investigation and issue a result much desired for the benefit of the patients,” the MUMN concluded.

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