HSE forks out €4m yearly on Viagra
Wednesday January 28 2009
THE HSE is forking out a whopping €4m every year helping men to rise to the occasion.
The bill for Viagra and other erectile dysfunction drugs for medical card holders was revealed yesterday in response to a query from a Co Clare councillor.
Green Party Cllr Brian Meaney called for a full audit on the annual spend on Viagra as he expressed concerns that the drug was being sold on the black market by some medical card holders.
Mr Meaney said he was shocked to learn that €3.8m was spent on Viagra and similar drugs for medical card recipients in 2007.
Problem
"It's an enormous amount of money to have to spend on Viagra, notwithstanding the need to address the problem of erectile dysfunction," he told a meeting of the HSE West Forum in Galway.
Mr Meaney said that there was a lot of anecdotal evidence that Viagra was being sold on by medical card holders.
"Certainly, the fact that almost €4m was spent on it in 2007 confirms that there is a lot of Viagra being paid for by public funds," he said.
Cllr Meaney added: "There is a need to establish that there is no abuse of the system and we should also address whether we can afford to spend so much on Viagra, when services such as cervical cancer screening are being pared back."
He was astounded that, at a time of cutbacks across almost all services, that almost €4m should be spent on Viagra.
"It's an astonishing amount of money and in light of the cutbacks elsewhere, I cannot understand how we can afford to spend this amount," he said.
In a reply from the HSE, Mr Meaney was informed that a total of €2.38m was spent on Sildenafil Citrate (Viagra), €1.1m on Tadalafil, €236,000 on Vardenafil, €111,000 on Alprostadil and just €87 on Apomorphine in 2007.
- Brian McDonald
