Gozitan cancer patients should be able to receive chemotherapy in Gozo “within the next couple of months,” Health Minister Joe Cassar said yesterday.
Things are proceeding well and it should be up and running within months
Nurses had been trained and Gozo-based doctors will soon be trained to administer the specialised treatment, he said.
Dr Cassar told The Sunday Times he had held a meeting with Gozo Minister Giovanna Debono last week to discuss the setting up of the necessarily infrastructure, and added: “Things are proceeding well. Within the next couple of months it should be up and running.”
Currently chemotherapy is not offered at the Gozo General Hospital and cancer patients have to travel to Malta each time they need the life-saving therapy.
Florence Gates, who lives in Gozo, had told The Times how she had to make the trip at least 21 times after she was diagnosed with breast cancer last year.
She described the “dreadful” journey, which meant getting up at 5am to be at the Gozo General Hospital to get the hospital minivan and catch the 7.30am ferry. She returned home at about 4pm, completely exhausted.
The plight faced by Gozitan cancer patients came to light last month following the resignation of the head of Mater Dei Hospital’s Oncology Department, Stephen Brincat.
He said he resigned because the Government was ignoring his advice on essential issues including the introduction of chemotherapy in Gozo. He was against introducing the service unless there was the necessary expertise.
To back up his argument, Prof. Brincat said that, in the past, patients in Gozo had died of chemotherapy toxicity – a side effect of the treatment – because of the lack of expertise.
It later emerged he was talking about two patients who died “more than 15 years ago”. The police are investigating the case and the Health Ministry is carrying out an internal inquiry.
The Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses insisted that safe chemotherapy could be introduced in Gozo immediately.
Yesterday, Dr Brincat spoke during the opening of Malta’s first Oncology symposium, which was organised by the Malta Cancer Foundation.
He said that over the years the foundation, of which he is a founding member, donated some €500,000 worth of equipment.
Now that the Oncology Centre was being built, the foundation had decided to invest its money into education.
Dr Cassar said that cancer treatment was at the top of his agenda and the Government had invested a lot in training, treatment and equipment.