To help serve fibromyalgia patients better and improve their access to quality health care, a new speciality clinic is now being purposely run from Floriana Health Centre.

The clinic was inaugurated by Parliamentary Secretary for Health Chris Fearne earlier today when he also expressed his gratitude to the trained multidisciplinary team who worked hard to make this other milestone happen. Mr Fearne stressed how this clinic brings with it the real opportunity to extend a reassuring safety net to fibromyalgia patients once they are diagnosed.

Run by trained clinicians, supervised by rheumatology consultants, this clinic aims at providing continuous reassessment and assurance, supporting fibromyalgia patients to lead as normal a lifestyle as possible.

The purposely run clinic follows on the heels of the Department of Health having last year recognised fibromyalgia as a chronic illness, with patients now being entitled to free medicines available on the government formulary via the schedule 5 route. Regular fibromyalgia clinic hours run Fridays between 13:00 and 18:00. Plans are underway to rotate the clinic to other health centres.

Ruth Debono, President of The Fibromyalgia Association said that this is another step in the right direction. Debono said that patients with this condition needed a point of referral and a more patient based treatment which will be achieved by the introduction of this clinic.

Parliamentary Secretary Fearne thanked all the staff at the Rheumatology Department at Mater Dei and those within the Primary Health Sector, who worked hard to achieve these results. “Without these dedicated people we wouldn’t be here today,” said Mr Fearne.

Parliamentary Secretary Chris Fearne underlined the commendable efforts being undertaken within Primary Health to enhance the range and frequency of services afforded through health centres and peripheral community clinics such as the cardiology outreach clinics running at Floriana and Mosta, and plaster services now being conveniently provided at Floriana, Mosta and Paola Health Centres with the aim of diverting patients away from Mater Dei.