Health Minister Chris Fearne has revealed that since 2015 up until April of this year, there have been 326 HIV positive patients registered in Malta, and that the selection process for a new treatment is drawing to a close.
He was answering to a parliamentary question put forward by PN MP Claudette Buttigieg who asked the minister to point out the number of HIV patients that have been registered in Malta since 2015 up until the moment that parliamentary question was answered.
Buttigieg also questioned the minister about the Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) which is a drug that one should take after being exposed to HIV in order to flush it out of their system and currently costs €600 to purchase, a price tag that has been highly criticised by experts and activists in the field.
She asked if the government is taking into consideration that there are people who do not afford to pay for PEP in one go, and if it will be introducing a mechanism that will allow such cases to pay in instalments.
Fearne replied by saying that the ministry is currently working on a National Strategy for HIV that will be addressing the prophylactic use of medicine among other issues.
Notably, PEP needs to be introduced in one's body no later than 72 hours after the person has been exposed to HIV for it to work.
Buttigieg asked Fearne to confirm if it is true that that patients who are unable to pay the €600 within the first 72 hours in which they are supposed to have PEP for it to be effective, are not being given medicine at all.
Once again, the health minister replied by saying that the ministry is currently working on a National Strategy for HIV without directly answering the question.
This is the same answer he gave when Buttigieg asked him to table the National Strategy for HIV in parliament.
Buttigieg also asked the Health Minister to confirm if it is true that there was a call for new types of treatments to treat HIV patients in February of this year and if the government's formulary list has been updated with these new treatments.
Fearne confirmed the call for new treatments and said that the ministry is nearing the end of its selection process which involves discussions with four companies that gave their offers for this call.
"We are expecting that the new treatment will be the most modern and effective treatment for all patients across Malta and Gozo who are living with this condition," he said while pointing out that this new treatment will be reflected in the formulary which is always kept up to date with the latest developments.