Cancer centre will cost €40m

The new €40 million cancer centre at Mater Dei Hospital was expected to be up and running in two years' time, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said.

Details of the "ambitious project" - that was originally meant to cost almost half the amount - would soon be revealed, Dr Gonzi said during a radio interview on Radio 101 yesterday.

He added that the planning permit had already been filed and the project was to be completed by 2012.

In the 2009 budget, the government had announced that it would be building a new Specialised Oncology Centre, worth about €24 million, at Mater Dei.

The Parliamentary Secretary for Health, Joseph Cassar explained that care for terminally-ill patients would be one of the services offered at the centre, which is to be built on a clear piece of land across the road from the outpatients car park.

This would be the first time that cancer patients will be offered proper palliative care within the public service.

The government had originally planned to transfer cancer services from Boffa Hospital to Zammit Clap Hospital but eventually decided to build the new centre at Mater Dei.

The government had said the change came about after looking into the pros and cons of all decisions within the context of sustainability while keeping in mind that everything needed to be patient-centred.

Dr Gonzi said during the interview the government was committed towards improving health services and this included cutting waiting lists. He said that in the first four months of the year 12,700 operations had been carried out at Mater Dei compared to 11,500 in the same period last year.