Updated | MUMN complains of unnecessary hardship of Gozo cancer patients

16:00 In reaction, government denied ever having received the MUMN’s letter.

“With reference to the press release and letter claimed to have been sent and published today by MUMN on the chemotherapy service in Gozo, the Ministry for Gozo has not yet received the letter published by the MUMN. Neither has the Office of the Prime Minister.”

It added that “for the benefit of the Gozitan patients, the Ministry for Health, the Elderly and Community Care and the Ministry for Gozo have been looking into the possibility of offering chemotherapy services in Gozo long before the 25 August 2011.”

 The issue is not as simple as Mr Paul Pace made it out to be, government said. “There are very technical issues which are being explored, one of them being the 20-minute shelf life of a particular chemotherapy.”

 It however expressed determination “to continue providing quality health services for all citizens equally and free of charge.”

Earlier: The MUMN said that on 25 August 2011, union president Paul Pace sent a letter to Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi and Gozo Minister Giovanna Debono urging for the administration of chemotherapy treatment for Gozitan patients in the Gozo General Hospital.

Cancer patients, Pace said, “will be needing chemotherapy as part of the treatment for their disease. Such IV treatment is only provided in Boffa Hospital in Floriana. Poor Gozitans who have to travel in the furnace of summer or in the cold winter months for such treatment when this could be easily be administered in Gozo General Hospital.”

“From statistics MUMN gathered it seems that around forty patients are on chemotherapy treatment. All patients are weak, in pain and easily get tired,” Pace said.

Pace said any nurse in Gozo General Hospital could be trained to administer the treatment, pointing out that patients receiving chemo are only assisted by a junior Houseman in Boffa Hospital. He emphasises that “Gozo General Hospital has doctors able to supervise and communicate with the Oncologist when in rare occasions, problems development when administrating such treatment. “

Pace adds that transportation for the chemotherapy “can easily be solved by purchasing the appropriate container which yet again should be a one off capital expenditure.”

The MUMN however said that the letter prompted no reply, or even acknowledged that the Ministry or the Prime Minister had received it.

“The fact that the Minister of Gozo or the Prime Minister did not even bother to send at least an acknowledgment to MUMN on such an important issue shows that this is not even a priority for the present Government,” the union said.

The union added that “such a sensitive issue should have been treated as urgently as possible for the benefits of the Gozo patients who are passing through a very difficult period in their lives.”

It called on media, parties and NGOs to pressure government to introduce the necessary measures that the union is calling for adding that health issues “should not be a political ball game and that all stake holders in the country should all work in the interest of our patients.”