Multiple sclerosis is a debilitating disease. It is an erosion of the nervous system and affects the flow of information within the brain and body. Victims of MS may share the same disease, but signs and symptoms differ widely from one person to the next.

The disease may affect anyone between the ages of 20 and 40 and there are some 260 sufferers in Malta. Symptoms may include blurred vision, exhaustion, lack of coordination, tingling, weakness in limbs, and loss of balance. There is no cure for MS, however treatment modifies the course of the disease, avoids relapses and controls the pain.

At present, people who suffer from MS have to be administered an injection through the traditional syringe and needle. It can be painful and it also needs to be given by a medical profession. However, the government has now confirmed that it will be introducing a new way of administering the drug – through a self administered clicker injection similar to that which is used by diabetics. The government said that it plans to introduce it as soon as the current stock (or as the jargon goes – formulation) is exhausted.

Sufferers of the disease have long campaigned for the introduction of the clicker injection. They say it will allow them more freedom and they would not have to go through the inconvenience of having to rely on someone to inject them with the drug.

They would be able to carry it with them and use it at will. One could even presumably go away for the weekend to Gozo and self administer there. It is something that healthy people take for granted, but for sufferers of MS, having their own self administered drugs would open up a whole new world. Sufferers could also work normal shift hours, rather than having to organise flexi time to go and be administered with a shot. Some people require an injection every single day, just to be able to function, let alone live a fruitful and productive life.

It has also emerged that over the past months the department of health fast tracked procurement of other medicines for MS patients, which had been approved since 2012, but never procured. The long-awaited fingolimod, teriflunomid and dimethylfumarate have been available in Malta for some time, before other European countries brought them into service. MS suffers also say that there are many misconceptions about the disease and that many people just think that they are lazy. They are not. MS is one of those diseases that can make things 10 times more difficult than what a person who has full body function feels. As always, it is down to lack of awareness and lack of knowledge of the subject. When one thinks that it is only in the last five years that Malta has begun to accept depression and bi-polar disease as a very real threat to our wellbeing, it is not surprising. We need to accept that MS is a very real thing and although it only affects a small percentage of people, it can make their lives very, very difficult. Giving them a pen shot – even if it is more expensive – will give them the dignity and independence that they deserve.