President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca has called upon the authorities to increase the psychological supervision given to healthcare professionals working with cancer patients to ensure that they don’t suffer burnout.

“I’m not saying it’s not being given at all but it should be a regular service, not one which is given once in a blue moon.

“Healthcare professionals working with cancer patients can only carry on with their stellar work if their own health is taken care of. Psycho-social support is a part of health and safety in the sector.”

Ms Coleiro Preca was speaking at Boffa Hospital on the occasion of World Cancer Day.

She narrated a case which she came across two weeks ago involving a single mother with cancer who has a 16-year-old son and a nine-year-old daughter.

“The doctor tells her to go to hospital but she doesn’t go because her daughter is sick.

“Please help these people – after the trauma of losing her mother, this child will risk the trauma of being placed in a home.

“It’s important to prolong life as much as possible. God forbid we follow what some other countries are considering, which is viewing the option of treatment as a waste of funds. We should always try and prolong the life of a cancer patient as much as possible.”

One in three people in Malta develop cancer. The country sees some 2,000 new cases a year, with 944 being men and 964 being women.

Over 40 per cent of men and over 50 per cent of women diagnosed with cancer live for at least five years following their diagnosis.