John Crown (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I second this Bill. I concur completely with Senator Quinn's closing sentiment that this is a non-contentious Bill. It is a no-brainer. In years to come people will understand that the need to have defibrillators in places where large numbers of the public congregate or where particular risk activities occur is as acceptable as having a fire exit or a rule against smoking. I have been a doctor for more years than I care to admit and have seen many patients who have been successfully resuscitated through defibrillation and allied measures. It is certainly one of the most gratifying things in medicine to see somebody who clinically has already possibly breathed his or her last because their heart has stopped, recovering.

I am not sure whether Senator Quinn or anybody else was aware that the portable defibrillator was invented by an Irishman, Dr. Frank Pantridge, in Belfast, that all the early work on it was done there and the first ambulances in the world to be equipped with mobile defibrillators were in Northern Ireland. It is particularly appropriate that we consider introducing this critically important lifesaving measure.

I am going to depart from the script for a second while I have the Minister captive here. I have mentioned this issue on a couple of occasions and the Leader of the Seanad asked that I bring it to the Minister's attention when he was here today for the reading of the Health (Amendment) Bill but he was called away. There is a real problem brewing with private insurance companies not paying for cancer drugs and making patients go back to the public system for drugs which have been approved by the national cancer control programme, NCCP. The drug in question is Ipilimumab. I know it has been close to the Minister's heart and he has a very laudable record in using his own good judgment and offices to make this drug available to patients with melanoma who need it. It is intensely frustrating to me that several large private insurance companies are not covering this drug and are insisting that patients who have been paying premia to them, allegedly for the service of having choice in their care, are being told that they cannot choose to have this drug. They are being sent back to the public system where it is costing the taxpayer a considerable sum of money. One of these companies, Aviva, makes it available to its clients in the UK but not to its clients in Ireland. This is wrong.

The two companies that have been most cast-iron in their refusal are Aviva and Laya. The people who are thinking of signing up to, or buying insurance from, these companies should think again and consider the alternatives. The VHI does reimburse for the drug which reflects the fact, which will be relevant in the new social health reform revolution which will occur here, that it is a not-for-profit company but exists to provide a social service. It attempts to do so with a business model which I know can be difficult for it but that is what it is trying to do. It made the right decision in this case and the companies that are in the business for profit are wrong.

I am sorry to eat into the time for this Bill but the Minister is a very busy man and getting access to him can sometimes be difficult. I am very supportive of yet another very practical Bill from Senator Quinn which should have uniform support across the House, and the Government and which, more than most Bills that come before the House, would actually save lives.