Irish taxpayers have spent more than $63 million on Viagra prescriptions in the past six years, data obtained via a Freedom of Information Request revealed.
The Irish Mirror reports that Ireland’s Health Service Executive has forked out $63,275,815 on erectile dysfunction drugs for patients on public health schemes since 2009. The greatest concentration was in the Dublin south area.
There has been concern expressed that the drugs are being overprescribed. Margaret Dunne, a psychotherapist specializing in psychosexual and relationship therapy, 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.
According to Nuala Deering, a psychosexual therapist who spoke with The Daily Edge, Ireland is not alone in seeing this trend.
“The problem is quite common,” she said “25% of men worldwide suffer from erectile dysfunction, so if you look at that over a lifetime, that’s a lot of men.”
The positive news is that prescriptions for erectile dysfunction drugs seem to be on the decline.
In 2014, for example, 41,412 patients were prescribed ED drugs at the expense of the HSE (about 1.8% of Ireland’s male population).
This was a decrease by 10% from the number of patients in 2013, and brought with it a drop in spending of $3.4 million.
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