Sex crisis for Irish men: €57m cost as men pop 167m Viagra pills in six years

A psychotherapist specialising in psychosexual, fertility and relationship therapy, slammed the huge bill as 'a costly quick fix'

Taxpayers have been left with a stiff bill for the rising cost of erectile dysfunction drugs provided to medical-card holders by the HSE.

Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act have revealed more than €57million has been spent by the health executive on prescription medication such as Viagra since 2009.

Margaret Dunne, a psychotherapist specialising in psychosexual, fertility and relationship therapy, slammed the huge bill as “a costly quick fix”.

She told the Irish Mirror: “I would have a concern that the purchase of medicines by the HSE for patients on medical cards may be helpful in the short term but might be papering over the problem.

“The underlying psychosexual and relationship issues might not be addressed.

“It might be a short-term solution and an expensive one at that.

“ED is often indicative of another problem. Use of medication does not address the underlying problem.”

Official figures show that of the €57,066,675 forked out on such drugs for patients on public health schemes since 2009 by the HSE, the largest spend was in the DublinSouth area.

Medical-card holders covered by the General Medical Services scheme account for €36.7million of the total, while almost €15.5million has been spent on erectile dysfunction medication for patients under the Drugs Payment Scheme.

The DPS covers the cost of approved drugs over a threshold of €144 per month for individuals or families.

A further €4.8million was spent on the medication for patients with conditions such as cerebral palsy, epilepsy and multiple sclerosis who qualify for the Long-Term Illness scheme.

But there has been a notable drop in the number of men relying on sexual dysfunction drugs, with more than 6,000 fewer patients receiving the medication under free schemes last year.

Last year, the number of unique
patients who were supplied with erectile dysfunction drugs at the expense of the HSE was 41,412.

This represented a reduction of over 10% since the previous year. The cost was similarly reduced from €10.2million in 2013 to €7.1million last year.

The drugs are likely to be the subject of scrutiny after it recently emerged the HSE had overspent by over €136million in the first four months of the year.

Medicines prescribed to treat erectile dysfunction include Viagra, Levitra, Cialis, and Sidena.

They contain similar active ingredients such as sildenafil, vardenafil and tadalafil.

In 2014 the most commonly prescribed drug was sildenafil which is sold as Viagra and other trade names.

Figures show 25,260 patients were dispensed with medicines containing this ingredient at a cost of €2,453,330.

Culled