Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I commend my constituency colleague, Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan, on bringing forward this Bill. It is vitally important that we make medicines as accessible and affordable as possible. We need to remove barriers to medicine and this will be a positive step in the right direction, albeit not the final step, in achieving this. Given my portfolio, the epidemic of crack cocaine comes to mind when talking about orphan drugs and new medicines. A great deal of work is being done at the minute to find a pharmaceutical treatment for crack cocaine addiction. This is an epidemic that is destroying communities and the lives of people and families. Unlike heroin, there is no pharmaceutical substitute for crack cocaine and this is proving a huge barrier to people accessing treatment. I would hate to think that, if and when we are at a stage where we can provide this vital treatment to those in the throes of addiction, cost will be a barrier to accessing that.

There are serious issues with the process of approving new drugs. There are also many issues around rare diseases and people with rare diseases need to be treated much better. Last year, I was contacted by a lady suffering from very severe morning sickness. She needed a drug called Cariban, which is used to treat severe morning sickness. Her doctor agreed that she needed it but unfortunately, this drug is not available on the medical card and she had to pay for it out of her own pocket until such time as she could no longer afford to do so. Unfortunately, when she had to stop taking Cariban, because she did not have the money, she ended up being hospitalised due to dehydration. This goes to the core of this Bill. It is about affordability and making drugs, and orphan drugs in particular, accessible under the reimbursement scheme. This is only one case but it highlights the impact unaffordable medicines can have on people.

It is disappointing that despite the Joint Committee on Health producing a report on these new medicines in 2018, it has taken a Private Members' Bill to progress this issue. I suppose inaction on health from this Government is not surprising. The fact that health policy is being driven by members of the Government from the backbenches says a lot. The reluctance to properly resource the health service is matched by a reluctance to make healthcare affordable. After months of pleading with the Government to consider antigen tests, we finally got there but instead of making these tests affordable, the Government has decided to leave this vital aspect of our fight against Covid-19 to Lidl. That is where we are now. Instead of properly resourcing healthcare we are relying on the free market to make healthcare affordable. The Minister of State might ask those trapped in the housing crisis how that approach has gone. As Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan said, it has taken almost four years to get a new, life-changing drug included in the reimbursement scheme. That is a shocking figure and an indictment of our healthcare service. People with rare diseases need to be supported.

The Minister of State made a number of points. She stated that the Minister for Health wants to look forensically at the current system and identify options for reform, and that he wants to increase transparency and communication to make a more responsive system. I respect that the Minister of State is being honest. She is not opposing this Bill today, but the question is whether she, and the Minister, will support it. Will they support this Bill that is trying to make a difference to people with rare diseases? Deputy Colm Burke spoke about the ten-year history of discussions in health about this issue, in 2011 and 2013.

See this speech in context