A woman who lost her leg to cancer must pay €200 a month from her own pocket for medicines that she will need for the rest of her life.
Sonia Camilleri, a 44-year-old mother-of-two, has to take phantom pain killers to remove the sensations in her right leg, which was amputated last April after she was diagnosed with a rare type of bone cancer.
"Sometimes I get pins and needles or pain in my knee, or even itching. It feels like my leg is still there," she said.
Moreover, these feelings can give her a false sense of security if she tries to use her leg, making the pain killers a necessity.
But Ms Camilleri was shocked to discover, after surgery in the UK, that she had to pay €95 every two weeks, apart from having to buy several other drugs which she needs for a short time.
"I do not mind having to pay for medicines which I will only need for now, but I am going to need the painkillers for the rest of my life, and I do not know whether I will be able to afford them in future," she said.
Ms Camilleri had to give up her job as a sales assistant and now relies on her husband's salary. Her trauma started on February 14, when after a Valentine's Day dinner with her husband, two children and their partners, she started feeling a throbbing pain to the left of her abdomen.
"I do not normally make a fuss, but I was so scared that I went to hospital," she said.
After waiting five hours at the Emergency Department, Ms Camilleri was seen by a doctor, who assured her that everything was fine after examining her and ordering an X-ray.
When the pain persisted, moving towards the middle of her abdomen and even affecting her ability to walk, Ms Camilleri took some blood tests, which also came up negative.
However, she was soon to discover that the original X-ray had revealed a lesion on her pelvis. A radiologist ordered a CT scan, which showed a tumour wrapped around her pelvic bone and right thigh.
It was then that Ms Camilleri was told she needed to go abroad for surgery, and although the word amputation was mentioned, she was not told she was going to lose her leg.
"The doctor told me that the tumour was localised and had not spread. In that panic I kept thinking that I wanted to live, even if it meant losing my leg," she said.
"I was praying for God to take my leg and keep me alive. I wanted to live for my children and my husband," she said, bursting into tears.
In April, days after her 44th birthday, Ms Camilleri flew to the UK's Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital with her husband and sister for the five-hour operation that removed her right leg, including her hip bone.
After six weeks at the UK hospital, she returned to Malta in June but was disappointed to find out that the drugs she required were not free.
According to a spokesman for the Health Parliamentary Secretariat, malignancy is included in the Schedule V, the list of conditions that entitles patients to free medicines. However, amputation, for which Ms Camilleri needs the pills, is not listed on this schedule, leading to confusion. "After the entire trauma, and having accepted losing my leg, it was a big blow to find out I have to pay for the pills," she said.