National Cancer Plan will require 'culture shift' - PM

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi today launched a National Cancer Plan, but stressed the need to look beyond the healthcare system for solutions to cancer incidence, however. “Studies show that over one half of cancers can be prevented,” Gonzi said, and pointed to healthier lifestyles as one way to limit cancer incidence. “A culture change is called for on a wider context.”

Showcasing the National Cancer Plan, Gonzi described the plan as “testimony” of government intention to make cancer care a priority and “place cancer patients and their families at the centre of our healthcare system.”

He said the plan would place a special emphasis on prevention of cancer incidence, and would be only one part of a holistic plan that the government intends to implement.

He explained how the plan would mean the continuation and broadening of existing cancer screening programmes, as well as the launch of further screening programmes in the pipeline expected later on this year.

Gonzi said that cancer care had already registered remarkable progress “due to our investment in the health sector, considered one of the best by the World Health Organisation.”

Gonzi referred to ongoing educational efforts targeting smoking and drinking, and also initiatives encouraging healthier lifestyles. He however made only passing reference to what many deem as Malta’s most intractable health concern – obesity and weight.

Particularly, he made no specific mention of Malta’s dismal performance with regards to obesity and weight issues among the population in the 2008 European Health Interview Survey. Published just last month, the figures revealed that Maltese men are the most overweight in the European Union, while Maltese women are third most overweight.

He however referred to a wide variety of ongoing reforms and investments, even citing the much publicised public transport overhaul, and praising the way it would contribute to cleaner air and less pollution.

Gonzi also referred to investment in the Sant Antnin Recycling plant, and in the Qui-Si-Sana fun park as initiatives that the government was committed to in its endeavour to improve the public’s lifestyle.

“All these are pieces in the jigsaw puzzle which form a bigger picture,” he said, emphasising that this was his government’s commitment and hoped they would bring about a change in culture in how people live their lives.”

“Where health is concerned, it is not a question of who can afford and who can’t. There are diseases that nobody can afford,” Gonzi said, referring to the way the health care system is free to all.

Outlining the plan, Dr Natalie Azzopardi Muscat - director general for strategy in the health ministry - said that it is “not enough to have to have simply isolated investment and decisions without a holistic plan that will unify efforts across multiple fronts.”

She emphasised the need for an effective and sensitive Cancer Action Plan that “goes beyond impersonal plans” that simply deal with incidence, mortality, and survival figures, but also consider the physical suffering, psychosocial suffering, and financial damages that patients and their families have to go through.

Azzopardi Muscat also said that while cancer figures are registering significant increases, this is “not surprising” given that these are linked to longevity, which is also rising considerably. “Our challenge is to offset and mitigate this rise,” she said, adding that the National Cancer Plan lays down the structure for a lot of work that needs to be done.

She said the plan would focus on six main pillars: prevention, screening, diagnosis and treatment, palliative care, research and development, searching for innovative solutions to existing problems. “We need to find a balance between ambition and realism,” Azzopardi Muscat cautioned however.

She also explained that a Steering Committee will be tasked with overseeing the implementation of the plan in its entirety. Meeting for the first time after the launch, Azzopardi Muscat said that the committee would be establishing specific groups that will be tasked with overseeing each chapter of the plan. “The committee will continue to monitor and review the implementation of the plan,” she concluded.