Zammit Clapp to become treatment centre for cancer patients

The government is in the process of revamping its oncology services by converting Zammit Clapp Hospital into a state-of-the-art centre for the treatment and supportive care of cancer patients, Health Minister Louis Deguara said yesterday.

The minister was speaking during the opening of the Paediatric and Adolescent Oncology Conference entitled Looking Towards The Future.

Cancer among young patients was a rare disease - less than one per cent of all cancer registrations on the island result from paediatric cancer diagnoses, Dr Deguara said. The Paediatric Oncology Ward, on average, sees 12 to 15 new cases a year.

Many paediatric cancers were curable with a combination of chemotherapy, surgery and/or radiotherapy.

Over the past 40 years, the long-term survival from paediatric cancer increased to well over 70 per cent. The mortality rate dropped to less than 30 per cent.

More than one in 800 young adults in developed countries was a survivor of paediatric cancer, he said, and this figure was likely to increase to one in 500 as the cure rate improved.

The conference was organised by the nursing staff of the Paediatric Oncology Ward at St Luke's Hospital, also known as Wonderland, and the Puttinu Cares Children's Cancer Support Group.