Procrastination on breast cancer issues

Last April, the Parliamentary Secretary for Health publicly declared that the government would be providing Herceptin free of charge to breast cancer patients who need it. Six months later the Prime Minister announced that the government will be issuing a call for tenders for the supply of Herceptin.

I wrote an article criticising the government for dragging its feet and wasting six months just to decide on issuing the call for tenders when, for some patients, taking this drug is a matter of life or death. Just like the government was still taking, it easy on the introduction of a breast-screening programme, promised in last year's budget speech.

The following day, the spinners at Pietà declared on their electronic journal that "Helena Dalli attacked the government because it will be providing breast-cancer patients with free Herceptin". A similar story was repeated on all the Nationalist Party radio and television newscasts and in the newspaper In-Nazzjon. The stories reported and repeated on the PN media were nothing but a blatant lie aimed at fudging my criticism of the government's procrastination on matters concerning breast cancer.

It is shameful that the Nationalist government is, for political expediency, ready to stoop so low on such a sensitive health issue. A new way of doing politics indeed!