The state's coffers are not bottomless and cannot cover all medicines, including expensive ones used to treat cancer relapse, according to the Parliamentary Secretary for Health, Joe Cassar.

Health was the government's priority but, unfortunately, the state could not afford to pay for everything, he said.

He was replying to comments made by Labour deputy leader Anġlu Farrugia, who criticised the government for not paying for an expensive drug that treats cancer in relapse cases.

A woman facing her second battle against breast cancer told The Times last month she had to find about €70,000 to pay for the medicine used to treat her relapse. The woman, who had benefited from the free Herceptin drug, said she was thinking of selling her house to pay her medical bills.

Dr Cassar said he understood the woman's distress, pointing out that there was a long list of important and expensive medicines that people wanted the government to provide for free.

Unfortunately, some of these medicines were not well known because some support groups were more vociferous about their causes compared to others, he said, referring to the effective breast cancer lobby. Plus, he added, another €3 million in the Budget was allocated to buy new medicines in 2010.

The decision whether medicines should be given for free is taken by a government committee and based on a set of criteria used by the UK National Health Service.

"However, one has to prioritise. In an ideal world all medicines should be given for free but it is not possible," he said.

Dr Cassar said the Labour Party did nothing but criticise the health sector without making any proposals.

"It's nothing but a cheap political ploy from Labour's side. During their two years in government people still had to pay for certain medicines," he said.

Dr Farrugia retorted that that this type of argument was weak. He insisted that, while the government found the money for extravagant capital projects, it was being stingy with a handful of people facing a relapse of cancer.

Even though the government promised to give Herceptin for free, people's quality of life was deteriorating because it failed to cover the cost of the relapse treatment drug, Dr Farrugia argued.