Breast cancer has killed an average of one woman per week in Malta between 2000 and 2006 – a total of 518 people.

Hospitals around the world, including Malta, dedicate the month of October to campaign in a bid to raise more awareness about the need for women to take the matter seriously. The earlier the illness is detected, the better the chances that the cancer can be removed.

Unfortunately, various studies have shown that Malta has a very high incidence and mortality rate of breast cancer when compared to other European countries. One in 12 women have or had breast cancer. It is the leading cause of cancer deaths in women. Family history of breast cancer increases the risk. However, 75 per cent of the women who develop breast cancer do not have family history of it.

Prevention is always better than cure. And breast screening has been shown on numerous occasions to detect this type of cancer in its early stages with the obvious advantages that the problem can be tackled better, often successfully. Although only one in 10 breast lumps are actually cancerous, it is of vital importance that women undergo regular tests for the specialists to diagnose any potential threat in the early stages.

For many years, the government has been speaking about the need to introduce a national breast screening programme. And the subject was brought up once again in the budget for 2008 – the government had then announced that it would have embarked on a national breast screening plan.

The year has nearly passed, another budget will be presented in two weeks’ time, and yet the government has not maintained its promise. Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi recently said that the plan will be up and running shortly, but we have been hearing this for quite some time now. The news, reported in The Malta Independent yesterday, that EU experts will be in Malta next month for a pre-implementation evaluation visit, is most welcome, and it is hoped that the ball will finally start rolling.

The government boasts of a state-of-the-art public hospital, and Mater Dei hospital does provide a wide array of services. Yet, now we should go one step further and start this national breast screening programme which, after all, is intended to save lives.

It is good that the government, as has been already announced, will be providing Herceptin medicine free of charge to some 40 women who need it. This medicine is administered to women at level three of the disease and who have already been operated upon. It has been calculated that e32,000 will be spent for every patient each year, for a total of e1.3 million.

All this is welcomed, but it is also important that the government sticks to its promise and introduces a national breast screening programme, aimed in particular for women who are most likely to develop the disease, those in the 50-60 age group.

Such a programme will mean that more women will be undergoing such routine tests, and so more women will be diagnosed with the disease at a time when there is a better chance that the cancer could be cured. As it is now, most women undergo such tests only “after” they have symptoms of the illness, and this means that the cancer could already have spread.

Private hospitals in Malta offer breast screening services and do their own campaigns to encourage more women to make use of their programmes. While this is commendable, it must also be remembered that such services are offered at a cost, and not everyone is in a position to pay for such treatment – unless perhaps “forced” to do so by a doctor, when there is a possibility that it could already be too late.

The number of women who undergo such tests on a voluntary basis would dramatically increase if a national breast screening programme is introduced. The government should fulfil its promise. Too much time has already been wasted.