(Adds government's reaction)

The radioisotope unit at Boffa Hospital has been closed for eight weeks, Opposition health spokesman Marie Louise Coleiro Preca said this morning.

She said that this unit had been closed to expand facilities but eight weeks later, work had not yet started.

In the meantime, the government has promised to send patients requiring this treatment abroad and a number had been waiting for months for treatment against thyroid and gynae cancer.

The government, she said, should say what was happening in the sector and give assurance it was addressing this serious problem which it had ccreated due to lack of planning.

In a reply, the government said the treatment referred to by the Opposition was a very particular one which was given through radio active iodine and which required the patient to be kept in isolation for days after which the room would have to be kept emply for more days so that it is 'cleaned' of radioactivity.

The government said that eight people had already been given this treatment abroad while another four would be getting it in the next two weeks and more patients in the following weeks.

It said the Health Deaprtment requested the permission of the Radiation Protection Board to change a number of practices which should lead to more patients being served in a short time. But studies had to be held because of the radioactivity issues and associated risks.

In the meantime, the Oncology Centre that was being built would have two rooms for patients requiring this treatment. There was only one such room at Boffa Hospital.