Asthma children 'losing precious schooling'

Children who suffered from asthma were losing unnecessary days of schooling because they were not allowed to take their inhalers to school, a situation the Malta Asthma Society (SAM) was working hard to resolve.

SAM president Mariella Blackman explained that one of the problems on the society's agenda was the lack of awareness that existed in schools on the way to handle children suffering from asthma.

"We are sorry to say that the teachers, or whoever is in contact with these children, have no know-how and as a consequence many children are losing precious days of schooling because they are not being allowed to take the inhalers to school with them," she pointed out.

SAM has already met the Malta Union of Teachers and the Department of Education to spearhead a collective effort to resolve this situation.

"The society is suggesting that children should be allowed to take the inhalers to school, provided there is the consent of the parents," Dr Blackman insisted.

She was speaking at a press conference to mark World Asthma Day, celebrated in Malta for the first time under the theme The Unmet Needs of Asthma.

To coincide with this event, an educational booklet on asthma was launched aimed at empowering those who suffer from this condition to take control and learn to live with it.

In Malta 10-12 per cent of the population, or 40,000 people, suffer from this respiratory condition and it is considered crucial that they fully understand how to handle asthma.

The booklet, called Control Is In Your Hands, was drawn up by Asthma (UK) and translated into Maltese by the Medical Association of Malta's general secretary Martin Balzan.

"We translated this booklet because it is the perfect tool for patients with asthma to understand their condition and we did not want to reinvent the wheel," Dr Balzan said.

Malta had a high prevalence of asthma. Wheezing among five to eight-year-olds, commonly a symptom of asthma or allergy, has increased by more than 50 per cent in the past seven years, according to latest figures from the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) and trebled since a 1985 local study on wheezing.

Stephen Montefort, consultant respiratory physician and senior lecturer in medicine, said thankfully asthma management had improved in Malta with a decrease in hospital admissions and, according to ISAAC data, a drop in acute asthma episodes and daily troublesome symptoms in children.

Dr Montefort said that two major positive factors that had contributed to this were the provision of free medication by the Health Department and the recent legislation to abolish smoking in public places.

The setting up of SAM a year ago had also helped to educate Maltese patients on their respiratory condition.

SAM acts as a pressure group on environmental issues and discusses decisions made by health authorities and health insurance agents regarding hospital and outpatient treatment for asthmatic patients. It aims to raise funds to assist scientific research in the field.

Dr Blackman said the society had met Health Minister Louis Deguara when it discussed various issues, such as the prevention of death caused by asthma.

SAM was also monitoring the supply of medicines for asthmatics at St Luke's Hospital to make sure the inhalers were always in supply as a shortage of them would have catastrophic consequences on asthmatics.

It was recommending that asthmatics be given a stock supply of inhalers for three months.

Another suggestion it made was for non-formulary medicines to be collected from polyclinics and not from the hospital, as was the situation at present.

"In the future we intend to help improve the quality of life for asthmatics by raising awareness that this is a condition that can be controlled if the right medication is taken, to ensure fatalities will not take place," she said.

Whoever wishes to join the society can send a membership fee of Lm2 to the Malta Asthma Society c/o St James Hospital, Zabbar. The booklet can be obtained from the society.