Speaking of cure rates rather than just survival rates was the next step in cancer treatment, Health Parliamentary Secretary Chris Fearne said yesterday.

He was speaking at the opening of the Sir Anthony Mamo oncology centre, adjacent to Mater Dei Hospital in Tal-Qroqq.

Mr Fearne, Health and Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi and the Parliamentary Secretary for EU Funds, Ian Borg, acknowledged the work done by the former Nationalist government in setting the ball rolling.

Mr Fearne said the way forward was finding a cure for cancer and not just contending with high survival rates.

“A hundred years ago, infectious diseases were deadly. Thirty years ago it was heart attacks. We found ways to cure these and offer patients the chance to lead a normal life. “Now it’s cancer. We should start talking about cure rates and not just survival rates,” Mr Fearne added.

The new centre, he went on, would offer better rehabilitation and help not only cancer sufferers in getting the treatment they required but also those might need psychological help be-cause of the illness. He said the government was working to make expensive medication, which certain cancer patients required, more readily available.

There were plans to upgrade other facilities to the high standards of the oncology centre, including Gozo, St Luke’s and Mt Carmel hospitals, Dr Mizzi said.

There is a need for a change in strategy and the patient always put first

“Patients who are ill are already going through enough and they deserve the best.

“There is need for a change in strategy and the patient always put first, before anything else” he added. Among the guests were former health minister Joe Cassar and health shadow minister Claudette Buttigieg.

Archbishop Charles Scicluna blessed the facility.

The new 113-bed centre received its first outpatients in December. The migration of services from Boffa Hospital, in Floriana, started last month and was completed last week.