Minister Jo Etienne Abela's recent optimism regarding Malta's cancer care paints a picture of a system on the "ascendant." But for those of us living with multiple myeloma, this view is far less certain and increasingly more challenging. While the Minister speaks of technological advancements such as drones, we are left navigating a bureaucratic disorganized healthcare labyrinth to secure the very drugs that keep us alive.

Statistics may not bend to rhetoric, but they also do not capture the anxiety of a patient waiting for a charity to approve their next breath. Statistics paint a picture of overall trends, but numbers cannot convey the feelings of desperation knowing that the State is at times treating its citizens on a second-class basis.

I now present, my three humble counter-arguments to the Minister's learned opinion about the current "state of affairs". I hope that my more value-based counter-arguments touch people's hearts and not only their heads. I hope that everybody in Malta and Gozo understands that competence is worthless in the absence of humanity.

1. Survival statistics mask the struggles of rare and incurable cancers

The Minister praises Malta's high survival rates, but as highlighted in the European Parliament, these figures primarily reflect success in frequent cancers like breast and prostate. For rarer or incurable conditions like multiple myeloma, the gap in survival can vary by over 20% compared to countries like Germany. We cannot hide behind an aggregate "low death rate" while patients with less common diagnoses face significantly lower survival prospects due to limited access to the latest treatments.

2. Charity is not a sustainable funding model for healthcare

The Minister cites €41 million reimbursed through the Malta Community Chest Fund (MCCF) as a success. We are the only member state of the European Union to fund cancer through a charity! In my opinion this is akin to our democratic rights flushed down the loo by the State! To a person like myself, MCCF is not a success but my "life-saving burden". Relying on a charity for life-saving medication like Daratumumab, which costs me €7,081 monthly, forces me and others like me to constantly "beg" for our right to live with MCCF through our continued application. Access to quality healthcare is a fundamental right, not a gift from a philanthropic organization. When funding at times delayed by "communication issues", administrative hiccups, and MCCF testing our means to see if individuals qualify for full financial support, for partial financial support or for no financial support, it is not just paperwork that stalls, it is our treatment, and potentially our lives.

3. The 16% reimbursable list is a failing grade in equity

While the Government points to 113 core medications, European data reveals that Malta reimburses only 16% of innovative cancer drugs compared to nearly 100% in Germany or Estonia. Apparently empty promises about expanding this list is cold comfort for a Maltese citizen like me, when experience has shown me that the more complex and overly bureaucratic process that the Minister describes can take years for treatments to be provided freely on the local national healthcare system. For a myeloma survivor, "future-proof" systems like drones are irrelevant if the medications they carry are not on the Government Formulary or approved by the Exceptional Medical Treatment Committee. We need a system that values human lives as much as technology and provides equality of opportunity for all Maltese citizens, rich or poor, to access the latest treatment according to a consistent and transparent system that forms part of our national healthcare system. Comprehensive and universal access to the latest cancer treatment especially those approved by the European Medicines Agency is a fundamental right and not a privilege!

Malta's cancer care should not be measured by the sophistication of its delivery methods, by overall survival rates or by the unnecessary complexity of the organization of the healthcare system, but by the dignity and certainty it affords its most vulnerable citizens. I hope that this message of mine melts the hearts of the Prime Minister, the President of Malta, the Minister of Finance alongside with the Minister of Health so that they truly understand the national wound that inequalities in access to cancer funding poses for our citizens and their families.

Lara Said is a multiple myeloma survivor. Half of her treatment is funded through the National Healthcare System and the other half by MCCF.