Gozo General Hospital will soon start offering chemotherapy for cancer patients, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said yesterday.

He said nurses were already fully trained to provide yet another health service without the need for Gozitans to cross over to Malta to receive the difficult treatment.

This was part of the expenditure on upgrading the Gozo hospital that the Labour Party in the past thought was not needed.

As he addressed party supporters in Xewkija, Dr Gonzi said government expenditure in health was approaching the €500 million mark, adding that the health system could only remain competitive if the country got its priorities right. In this context he mentioned the €600 million the Labour Party wants to spend on constructing a new power station “that the country does not need”.

The Government was also working on connecting family doctors to the public health system where they could access their patients’ health records.

Dr Gonzi said more free medicines would be made available including treatment for eczema, which will be included in the list of chronic diseases.

He said health tourism was a niche market through which Gozo could benefit while creating more employment opportunities.

Referring to Labour’s proposals for Gozo, Dr Gonzi said these either already existed or were in the pipeline. He said the PN was promising a €200,000 tax credit for those who opened a business in Malta while Labour was promising only €50,000, “because for Labour Gozo is in second division”.