Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/741600
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 23 OCTOBER 2016 6 News TIM DIACONO MEDICINES Authority chairman Anthony Serracino Inglott has urged the health authorities to keep a stock of emergency contracep- tives available at Mater Dei for rape victims. "Rape victims have a right to ac- cess emergency contraception at hospital," he told MaltaToday. "What if a victim is raped late at night? Will she have to search across Malta to find an open phar- macy, perhaps go to the airport pharmacy and hope that the person behind the counter isn't a conscien- tious objector?" The Medicines Authority ruled earlier this week that emergency contraceptives containing the ac- tive ingredients Levonorgestrel and Ulipristal be made available over the counter, despite proposals by a joint parliamentary committee and the Medical Council of Malta that it should only be made avail- able against a doctor's prescription. Serracino Inglott said that the MA's decision was based on the fact the pill's efficiency hinges greatly on it being consumed as soon as pos- sible. The Medicines Authority chair- man was speaking at a press confer- ence, called to clarify comments he had made during a recent interview on the TV programme Dissett that were criticised heavily by the Medi- cal Association of Malta (MAM). MAM yesterday accused Serra- cino Inglott of claiming that abor- tions are being carried out in Malta. "In his interview, the chairman declared that abortions are being carried out in Malta and that these will decrease in number after the introduction of the MAP. Abortion is a criminal offence in Malta and this allegation worries the public and tarnishes the reputation of the whole medical profession," MAM president Gordon Caruana Dingli said. Caruana Dingli said that Serra- cino Inglott's comments were "un- substantiated" and "risk tarnishing the reputation of the entire medi- cal profession", also noting that the Medicines Authority chief did not specify whether abortions in Malta are being carried out surgically or medically. However, Serracino Inglott said that the MAM must have misun- derstood him and that his com- ments were made to counter fears by pro-life proponents that emer- gency contraceptives are abortive. "What I said was that emergency contraception reduces the rate of abortions. A number of Maltese women travel abroad to have an abortion, something they wouldn't have to do if emergency contra- ception was available in Malta," he said. "Also, it is a fact that some doctors give their patients off-label contraception pills. I do not believe that these pills are abortive either, but the chances of them being so are surely higher than emergency contraceptives, which have been proved as non-abortifacient by sci- entific research. "If one had to apply the definition of "abortion" that certain doctors and citizens have used, then by ex- tension those pills that are already being used in Malta are also abor- tive." Serracino Inglott also expressed disbelief at Caruana Dingli's sug- gestion that he and other MA board members could have any conflicts of interest over the morning-after pill. "In the interview, the chairman claimed that medicine importers discussed commercially sensitive information with him regarding the number of pharmacies that are will- ing to sell the morning-after pill," Caruana Dingli had said. "He also admitted that he did not discuss the MAP with doctors or pharmacies. We insist that the chairman and board members of the Medicines Authority should make declara- tions of conflict of interest to main- tain the integrity of their posts." However, Serracino Inglott vocif- erously denied having any conflict of interest, stating that he had been referring to a meeting on the MAP that the MA had organised with stakeholders, in which a wholesaler said he was willing to import emer- gency contraceptives to Malta. "Information on how many phar- macies are willing to sell emergency contraception is not commercially sensitive; on the contrary it is of public interest. I want to put peo- ple's minds at rest that emergency contraception will be made avail- able in the majority of Maltese pharmacies." 'Hospital must give rape victims morning-after pill' Medicines Authority chief urges Mater Dei to stock emergency contraception for rape victims Anthony Serracino Inglott