Government spends €109,415 on PET scans

Health Minister Joe Cassar reveals that 77 PET Scans conducted in the private hospital since May have cost the government €109,415.

The Nationalist Party had pledged to install a PET scan in its electoral manifesto and the Minister confirmed that that the authorities were still working towards procuring it.

Cancer patients in need of a special scan started having the scan  done for free in hospital at the government's expense following an agreement with Saint James Hospital to start using the private clinic's Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography, which it acquired last year.

The €2 million PET scanner shows how tissues are functioning, proving invaluable in cancer patients since it allows doctors to see whether there are still live cancer cells. It can help doctors in deciding which treatment to go for.

Apart from the major investment in the scanner, the hospital has to fly in a special chemical, called a tracer, every time a patient is undergoing a scan.

Tracers, which are injected into the patient, have a shelf life of just a few hours and start deteriorating very quickly. Since there is no producing plant in Malta, the chemical has to be flown in from Italy just before the patient is due to undergo a scan.