I have a daughter who suffers from severe ME. It took her around three years of constant worry, consulting scores of doctors and specialists, going through many medical tests which did not show up anything abnormal, while she kept feeling very sick, losing weight and completely exhausted. Finally, and after eliminating all other possible diseases, our daughter was diagnosed with ME.
Unfortunately we have no specialists on ME in Malta and very few doctors admit the condition exists. The only support these people get is from ME Sufferers Malta.
There are no social benefits for these patients and they all suffer a great deal alone and are so tired they cannot make their voice heard.
I spoke to many government officials, including a minister a couple of years ago. I was promised that the illness would be looked into so as to include it in the list of disabilities where patients receive a pension; however, to this day nothing has materialised.
For this reason I strongly appeal to the government to invest in ME research, send healthcare professionals to train abroad and allow patients social benefits which they need so much.