Health Minister Jo Etienne Abela shared in Parliament on Tuesday that from the start of 2025 till 15 October, a total of 428 new cases of breast cancer were discovered in the country.

The Minister for Health stated that from these 428 cases, 51 led to a mastectomy, i.e., surgery to remove a breast.

This means that this year so far, 12% of all detected new cases of breast cancer have resulted in a mastectomy.

This information was shared following a parliamentary question asked by PN MP Ivan Castillo.

Last week on Monday, a similar query was asked by PL MP Carmelo Abela, through which the Minister for Health shared that during this same timeframe, 104 new breast cancer cases were referred by the screening unit.

From these 104 cases, 75 were classified as “invasive carcinoma” and the remaining 29 were identified as “carcinoma in situ,” which is a very early stage of cancer known as Stage 0, where cancer cells are limited to the milk duct and haven’t yet penetrated the breast tissue – making it “almost always completely curable” when detected.

Health Minister Abela had encouraged all women to take this opportunity to schedule a breast screening.