Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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A point was raised about reimbursement and figures that I got in response to a parliamentary question indicate that there are nine drugs that have cleared the hurdle and await approval of some form from the Health Service Executive, HSE. That ties in with many of the questions being asked this morning. People who watch this process closely do not do it for fun. They do it because they have a vested interest in it because it affects a loved one. The questions about the nine drugs are similar. There are hurdles in place but when one thinks they are cleared the drug ends up on the Minister's desk or the HSE list which is approved but not reimbursed. Can the witnesses tell us, for the sake of those watching, particularly in respect of Respreeza, that when the hurdles have been cleared there will not be another hurdle or that the approval will not simply sit on another person's desk while people are in desperate circumstances.