The PN said this morning that the government was misleading vulnerable cancer patients even on the day dedicated to the disease.

In a statement, shadow health minister Claudette Buttigieg accused Health Minister Chris Fearne of telling half-truths on cancer medicine.

She said the products claimed by the minister to be new, Capecitabine, Mitomycin u Doxorubicin, are not new at all. The government formulary listed these medicines as generic not branded, which meant they had been on the market for many years.

What the minister should have said is that the government has changed the protocol governing how these medicines are administered to patients.

The PN MP said the minister should say how he was going to help poor people who are more susceptible to chronic disease, including cancer, when he would be publishing the cancer strategy (the old one expired in 2015) and how much he would be investing in research on genetic diseases, including cancer.

Reacting, the Health Ministry said Buttigieg’s reaction to the news that new medicines are being rolled out was “incredible.”

The ministry said Capecitabine, which is used to treat breast, stomach, liver and pancreatic cancer has already been introduced into the government formulary.

Mitomycin, which is used for the treatment of bladder cancer, and Doxorubicin, which is used to treat liver cancer, will be added to the list in the coming weeks. Around 500 patients will be making use of the said products. Up till now they had to pay for the medicine or ask the Community Chest Fund for assistance.

 “The Opposition’s attacks on such an important development, on World Cancer Day no less, is simply incredible,” the ministry said.