Cash freed up for life-saving meds

THE Cabinet decided on Thursday to free up more than €1.8 million in funds which will be used to provide medication for patients suffering from thalassaemia and multiple sclerosis.

A total of €833,713 will be used to purchase Exjade, a drug used to treat thalassaemia, €304,274 will be used to treat patients suffering from multiple sclerosis and €9,170 for another unspecified specialised treatment.

Natalia Michaelidou, head of the Thalassaemia Association said last week that patients were in despair following the death of 11 people who were unable to receive the necessary treatment.

“The severe delay in the approval of patients to receive the drug has meant four patients who got on the list late lost their lives, while seven others who were on the waiting list also lost their lives,” she said.

Exjade’s main use is to reduce chronic iron overload in patients who receive long-term blood transfusions for conditions such as thalassaemia and other chronic forms of anaemia. It is marketed in Cyprus by Novartis.

The health ministry was also accused of not supplying the required medication to multiple sclerosis (MS) patients.

In a statement, the MS association said that more than 20 patients were approved by the health ministry’s medical council to receive a specific medication but were later told it was not suitable and they should wait for a replacement. Ten months later, this has not yet materialised.  The association said the condition of many of the patients was worsening and in some cases has become irreversible.

 

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.