Paying for treatment of chronic illnesses

"Health comes first and foremost", goes the Maltese saying. Unfortunately, hundreds of Maltese citizens (to say the least) have to buy their medicines for their chronic illnesses. A condition that in my humble opinion merits no second thoughts is when a drug is requested for treating any heart condition. We have recently heard during World Heart Day that one in every five deaths in Malta is attributed to heart disease. Diabetes is also very common; one in every 10 people in Malta have it.

According to the pre-budget document, section 8.52, Treatment of Cardiovascular Disease And Diabetes: "Developments in medicine have led to new treatments for cardiovascular disease and diabetes with improved outcomes leading to lessening risk of complications. Government will gradually continue to upgrade the range of medicines available for treating these common illnesses".

The above statement gives a ray of hope to these unfortunate people who are waiting for their requests for free medicines made by their medical consultants to be approved by the responsible authority on medicines. After all, they too pay taxes.

However, delays in the processing of these application forms makes one to think and wonder... Does the government have funds to buy new medicines? OK, we have not found oil. And it is a fact, which we have to admit as well, that branded medicines are not cheap, either.

On the other hand, just because these patients do not have a strong organisation to unite them, doesn't mean that they have no rights at all.

In the light of all this, I humbly suggest that the Finance Minister should think it more than twice before he approves extraordinary requests from certain unions, as I fear that little money, if any, will be left for the procurement of new medicines for the people who need it badly.