The Prime Minister’s declaration in the budget speech that from next year Malta would have a national programme for breast screening – meaning that the programme would include all women – was nothing but a promise which could not be implemented, the Labour Party’s spokeswoman for women’s rights, Helena Dalli, said.

It was shameful that the Prime Minister should use breast cancer to win votes, she added, pointing out that last Wednesday, in his reply to the Opposition Leader, the Prime Minister referred only to a pilot project, not to a national programme.

This showed that what he had promised in the budget speech had been promised without consultation with anyone, and that the aim was only to win votes.

The Labour Party, Ms Dalli added, had for long been asking for a breast screening programme for high risk women but the Health Minister, just days ago, had said Malta did not have the resources. Then came the Prime Minister to announce a national programme not just for high-risk women, but for all women. Even the head of the department of oncology had said publicly Malta did not have the resources for such a programme.