PN MEP Roberta Metsola has said that it is unacceptable that life-saving HIV prevention drugs are still not available for free through Malta's National Health Service.
Metsola said: "We have taken positive steps forward recently in allowing PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis) and PEP (Post-Exposure Prophylaxis) to be sold in Malta, but their cost means that too often many people are being denied medication that could save their lives."
MEP Metsola who is a long-time Member of the European Parliament's LGBTI InterGroup and was the EPP negotiator on a landmark anti-homophobia report, said that "as politicians, we have to raise awareness about the importance of such drugs to counteract the recent steady increase in HIV infections in Malta and beyond our shores."
"There should be no distinction between those people who are fortunate enough to be able to afford the medication and those who cannot. Government should provide these drugs to whoever needs them. We've heard that there may be plans in the pipeline at some undetermined time in the future, but we're here to say that time is now."
MEP Metsola added that "this was a clear promise in the PN's 2017 electoral manifesto. It is a stand pushed by MZPN and we will keep pressuring government to act."