I am amazed by the challenge of Thomas Cremona, the former cancer patient who is aiming to become the first Maltese person to row across the Atlantic Ocean on the Sarah G, when he sets off with a six-man team from Morocco to Barbados, a distance of over 5,000km.

It is a great challenge and I wish the best for Thomas.

On the online version of The Times, I suggested that the government holds an international conference to bring the best minds and companies in Malta together to find a long-term remedy for cancer. The conference must end with a political commitment to convert St Luke’s Hospital into the most advanced research centre in the world against cancer.

I am quite certain that this initiative will find the supprt of the EU, US and other countries; if need be a campaign is to be made for all world citizens to donate €100 as a donation to this challenge.

This will make Malta a centre for medical research and attract the best brains in the world and generate visibility for our small island with all the positive benefits, etc.

As John F. Kennedy made a commitment to send a man on the moon within a decade, Malta should steer medical research to find a solution against cancer in the next decade.

The research must be carried out by an independent trust with representatives from civil society in order to ensure that there is transparency and international ownership of the final product.

Let us try to make something big for humanity.