Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I attended the launch this morning of Rare Diseases Ireland's report, Ending the Wait: Actions to reduce the waiting list for Ireland's genomic service. I met patients who suffer from various retinal diseases, most of which lead to blindness, who hope a drug called Luxturna will be approved for reimbursement, an issue that has been raised in the House repeatedly. A total of 1,277 days later, we are still waiting for this process to conclude. I have repeatedly spoken to the Tánaiste and the Minister for Health about this. Any process that takes this time - 1,277 days as of today - is not fit for purpose. I ask the Tánaiste to give a commitment that the reimbursement process will be reviewed. We are miles behind other EU countries. Time lost is a diminution of somebody's quality of life and potentially his or her life. I ask the Tánaiste to take this issue up with the Minister and to address the problems concerning reimbursement.

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