Doctors want more Viagra on the NHS
Updated on 29 November 2007
More men should get access to Viagra on the NHS to slow down the trade in fake medicines, leading doctors have said.
The British Medical Association (BMA) called on the Government to look again at who is eligible for drugs to treat erectile dysfunction (ED).
Chairman Dr Hamish Meldrum said the BMA had "always been against the rather discriminatory way" in which some patients got Viagra and others did not. The BMA's view is that doctors should be able to prescribe Viagra and other ED drugs to all patients with a demonstrable clinical need.
Dr Meldrum said there was currently a "rather awful half-way house" where some men were treated while others were denied help. This meant some men were forced to go private while others turned to the internet to buy pills that could be fake or harmful.
He said: "We are aware that many internet sites are offering it (Viagra) at a price lower than you would get it at the chemist.
"There are problems with this, the first that you might not actually be getting Viagra. At best it may be an inert substance, at worst a positively dangerous substance."
The second problem was that patients did not undergo a thorough consultation to see if the drug may interfere with other medicines they were on.
Dr Meldrum pointed out that it was the job of the Government rather than the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) to look at the issue.
He said: "This is really almost a political decision about whether you get it on the NHS. Nobody is arguing about the effectiveness of Viagra or other treatments for erectile dysfunction."
The current restrictions on prescribing Viagra and other ED drugs caused a huge row in 1999. Then health secretary Frank Dobson put limits on who could get access to Viagra.
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