Fianna Fáil TD for Longford-Westmeath Robert Troy has welcomed the Health Minister’s decision to set up an early access programme for people who were infected with Hepatitis C as a result of State supplied contaminated blood products. The scheme will provide them with powerful new drugs, which vastly improve the chances of eradicating the disease. Deputy Troy is calling on the Minister to ensure that the scheme is established without delay so that these life-saving medicines can be administered to patients as soon as possible.
Deputy Troy commented, “The decision by Minister Varadkar to provide these life-changing and life-saving drugs to patients who were infected with Hepatitis C because of a medical blunder caused by the State in the 1990s is very welcome. I have been raising the issue for several months, after being contacted by a constituent living with the disease. This is an extremely debilitating condition, which vastly reduces their quality of life.
“The Government has been delaying on an early access programme for the most seriously ill patients for some time, and as it procrastinated on the process, the prognosis for patients has been steadily deteriorating. This is a condition where time is of the essence, and it is essential that now that this decision has been taken, that the Minister moves speedily to roll out the early access programme”.