Marigold Foundation celebrates 8th Anniversary with donation of new Heart Machine

Feb 14 2022

The first ever Cardiac Awareness Campaign in Malta was launched by The Marigold Foundation (TMF) on St Valentine’s Day, also marking the foundation’s 8th anniversary.

To emphasise its commitment to this new cause, TMF donated a state of the art high end Echocardiogram machine, a Philips EPIQ CVx, to the Department of Cardiology at Mater Dei Hospital. This cardiovascular ultrasound system offers advanced imaging of the heart and can identify even small changes in the pumping of the organ at a very early stage.

Highlighting a striking comparison, Cardiologist and Marigold Board member Mr. Robert Xuereb said that while Covid 19 took the lives of approximately 500 persons in a year, heart attacks still kill over 1,000 persons annually in Malta. Apart from this, cancers and their related therapies most often affect the function of the heart, possibly leading cancer patients to subsequently suffer from heart conditions.

The machine donated today will help prevent and treat the cardiovascular consequences of cancer therapy in a more timely manner. The machine will be used in the recently set up Cardio-Oncology Clinic led by experts from both the Department of Cardiology and the Department of Oncology.

Michelle Muscat, Chairperson and Co-Founder of TMF stated that the foundation’s pillars of health, social and education are all fulfilled through such an initiative.

The Cardiac Awareness campaign aims to educate the general public on the importance of staying healthy and knowing the signs of one of the major killers on the island. This forms part of an educational trail through Marigold’s series of campaigns. Apart from this, funds that are gathered through public fundraising are being used to serve the same general public when and where it needs it most.

Mrs Muscat said that The Marigold Foundation believes in the advancement of every citizen in this country and in bettering everyone’s lives through knowledge, education and support services thus ensuring that the Sustainable Development Goals advocated for by the United Nations are reached through the hard work of voluntary organisations such as The Marigold Foundation.

Present for the press conference were Ms Celia Falzon, CEO Mater Dei, Dr Nick Refalo, Chairman Department of Oncology,
Dr Alice May Moore, Cardiology Resident Specialist, lead in Cardio-Oncology, Dr Jeremy Fleri Soler, Cardiology Higher Specialist Trainee, with special interest in Cardio-Oncology and Ms Michelle Cassar, Charge Nurse, Cardiac Lab.

The Cardiac Awareness Campaign runs from Monday 14th to Wednesday 16th in the heart of Republic Street, Valletta where the general public is invited to visit and learn to take care of one self and how to prevent early deaths. The campaign is organised by The Marigold Foundation in collaboration with the Maltese Cardiac Society and with the support of the Museum of Archaeology.

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PN candidate calls on Mount Carmel CEO to invite journalists into hospital

Feb 14 2022

PN candidate Julie Zahra has called on Mount Carmel CEO Stephanie Xuereb to invite journalist into the mental health hospital in order for them to witness first-hand the conditions within. Writing in an open letter on Sunday, Zahra suggested that press members should be given the opportunity to visit Mount Carmel, either freely or accompanied by a member of staff.

Speaking in a short video on Facebook, Zahra said that she asked Xuereb to invite journalists, camera people, photographers and other members of the press to openly enter Mount Carmel. She said that this should still be done with respect of the patients’ privacy, but that the press should still be able to enter.

Mount Carmel has long been criticised for its ‘far from desirable’ conditions, with Malta’s Commissioner for Mental Health urging hospital authorities to upgrade their protocols, facilities and services last year. He had stated that a number of reforms in the mental health sector were delayed for too long, and appealed to health authorities to realign the work agreed upon in the Mental Health Strategy and proceed with implementation.

The state of the hospital was revealed in a 2018 auditor’s report in which the Auditor General remarked that mental health and the island’s only mental health hospital ‘are still considered as secondary priority when compared to the rest of the local public health sector.’ The Nationalist Party had pledged to close Mount Carmel during a press conference last June. They had promised to create a specialised hospital integrated with Mater Dei Hospital, with Mount Carmel transformed into a public open space.

Later, 2022’s budget promised to modernise Mount Carmel Hospital by renovating the first block and building a therapeutic garden instead of the shuttered block 10. This will accompany a new psychiatric hospital that will be built next to Mater Dei, with Finance Minister Clyde Caruana saying that the new building will be ready in about four years.

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Government to cover all IVF medication expenses till June

Feb 14 2022

Prime Minister Robert Abela announced on Sunday that the government will be covering all medicine expenses incurred after January 2022 of couples undergoing IVF.

The government will be refunding expenses relating to IVF medication through a grant for all couples. The scheme is backdated to the 1st of January and will be in place until new medicine arrives in June this year.

Abela announced this during a political event in Tarxien, saying that the January period meant the start of another IVF cycle for prospective parents. He said that ‘these couples told us how important it was to see the legal changes needed for this opportunity to become parents in Malta. In the recent past, it was the norm to have to leave Malta for this opportunity.’

So far, IVF procedures at the public hospital are carried out for free, saving up to €15,000 in expenses. However, the hormone therapy which is needed before the IVF procedure is not free of charge. This could cost up to €3,000 for each cycle.

Abela said that despite the Maltese government providing more than other countries when it comes to the procedure, a lot of money is still spent on medicine. He revealed that he spoke to Health Minister Chris Fearne on the government procedure to buy IVF medicines, saying that it is a technical process that involve public procurement regulations.

‘It takes time. But for couples undergoing IVF we know that time is against them. They can’t afford to wait because of bureaucracy. Every day counts’ he said.

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Around 260 Maltese women sought British charity aid to get abortion

Feb 14 2022

Three years ago, Abortion Support Network extended its services to Malta. Since then, a total of 269 people from Malta were assisted by the UK-based charity to get an abortion. The charity itself does not carry out abortions but helps with the dissemination of information, logistics and financial support for those who wish to undergo the procedure.

ASN provided around €15,122 in grants to 269 people from Malta since 2019, with the practice remaining completely criminalised in Malta, the only EU country to have this blanket ban. ASN itself supported its clients in accessing safe abortion pills and even arranging second-trimester abortions in clinics and hospitals in other European countries. The services were extended to Malta on the 14th of February 2019.

ASN founder Mara Clarke said that over the last three years, they have heard from hundreds of people in Malta, expressing outrage at the fact that they are needed due to abortion being criminalised. They were however pleased to support those who needed it in equal measures. ASN also praised the Family Planning Advisory Service (FPAS), which was set up by Maltese NGOs to offer information on sexual and reproductive health and even awareness of online providers of medical abortion pills.

The service started in August 2020, helping over 797 people from Malta asking for help or information on sexual and reproductive health. It said that 40% of people who contacted it decided to have an abortion and 10% obtained abortion pills and asked about the process.

Meanwhile, Women on Web, a popular provider of abortion pills, said they received 509 requests for abortion care from people in Malta in 2021 and provided them to 269 people. This is an increase from 261 requests in 2020, of whom 181 were provided with abortion pills. Doctors for Choice and Women’s Rights Foundation criticised the Maltese government for failing to push a Bill decriminalising abortion that was presented by independent MP Marlene Farrugia last year.

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