Accommodation should be provided to Gozitan patients receiving treatment in Malta and also to the relatives of those on their deathbeds, a recently established NGO is urging.
The National Patients’ Organisation has written to the Finance Ministry about the plight of patients who travel to Malta for treatment, including chemotherapy, hoping its proposal will be included in next year’s budget.
The NPO was set up by a cancer survivor, a fibromyalgia sufferer and two with chronic pain, who came together to set up a group that aims at “advocacy with patients, not for them”.
Ahead of the 2019 budget, the organisation is flagging “great” physical, moral and financial hardship endured for years by patients who have to travel to Malta for various health appointments.
The ordeal was illustrated by patients during a recent conference in Gozo, among them George Gauci, diagnosed with papillary thyroid cancer. He suggested some form of priority boarding for cancer patients who have to cross over to Malta early in the morning.
Commending the investment in Dar Bjorn for those with degenerative diseases and for those receiving treatment abroad, he appealed for support for Gozo patients and…
