ME Sufferers Malta has been fighting for recognition since 2006, so we were thrilled to learn that ME (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis) was finally and, at long last, added to the list of chronic diseases last week.
Recognition is the first step forward in the right direction, but to make a difference, it then must translate into an effective plan of action.
Saying that ME patients are “entitled to full healthcare services and patients will now be prescribed for medications within the government’s formulary, as determined by the clinical judgment of their consultant” is utter nonsense.
Unless the Minister for Health seriously intends to get international ME experts to Malta to guide and train local medical practitioners regarding what ME is, how to diagnose it accurately and how to offer an adequate treatment regimen, the situation can only get worse.
No one locally is competent enough in the field of ME and there are no ME specialists or consultants. Ask anyone suffering from this dreadful disease. Only a couple of doctors understandably feel confident to diagnose the disease, let alone how many are prepared to treat it or even know where to begin. That brings us to the second point: medication. What medication? Medication based on what? Will medication keep being prescribed on a trial-and-error basis?
The only way forward to treat ME patients successfully is to get advice from renowned experts abroad. Otherwise, the Health Ministry’s statement is just a ruse to deceive the public into thinking that, unlike the previous government, it is paying more than just lip service to address such a serious and critical problem.
ME is a degenerative disease. Patients need to be diagnosed and treated fast. Delay can allow the condition to become extremely severe and, in some cases, the patient becomes too weak to respond to treatment. For a few it is already too late.
The Health Ministry must stop dragging its feet, wasting more time (and lives) and start to use its resources productively. If not, ME patients and their families can only regard its ‘plans’ as a cruel and distasteful ploy to cover up the fact that the ministry is no closer to devising an effective strategy to finally begin treating people with ME.