I am shaken to the core by the plight of pain victims

IAM still reeling from the number of calls to Liveline from chronic pain sufferers in the past week who, for the last few months, have suffered in silence since the pain-relieving patch Versatis was abruptly withdrawn from the Medical Card and Drug Refund scheme. This means that, of the 25,000 patients prescribed this pain relief, unless they can afford to pay for it out of their own pockets, they have to do without.

It has been remarkably distressing listening to these sufferers on Liveline all week.

Neither patients nor their GPs were consulted before the patches were unilaterally withdrawn – with the exception of its use for one specific type of pain associated with shingles.

They were given for chronic pain, were applied to the affected area and for many worked much better than any other painkiller – with fewer side effects than tablets or liquids you have to ingest.

There is no uniform group of chronic pain sufferers; the conditions that cause debilitating pain are varied, but they leave people alone with their families and in great distress. Many of them now can not leave their homes. However, they say they could when they applied these patches. Others told me the patches allowed them to go to work. Without them they are stuck at home.

More than 500 pain sufferers have contacted RTÉ in the last seven days. Those who have been able to tell their stories on radio have given us a glimpse of what their lives are like. Many communicated their pain with enormous power and dignity.

The response of the HSE to this outpouring of distress has been bizarre. The director general of the HSE, Tony O’Brien, told an Oireachtas committee that ‘there was no withdrawal of cover, no withdrawal of reimbursement’.

So the hundreds now speaking out are living in cloud cuckoo land? He added that there was now another ‘layer of approval’.

This, of course, is within the HSE and so far has removed 90% of sufferers from the medication that gave them such relief – despite the pleadings of their GPs.

What is even more worrying is the dismissal of the public pleadings from sufferers. The HSE argues that those patients who have been on the radio are only a small section of those who are using the medication. And a Government representative has said: ‘We don’t depend on 500 people’s personal medical views to decide if a drug is effective.’

To add insult to injury, the HSE then said: ‘Patients who need this medication will get it.’

Yet, as we now know, it has rejected 90% of requests from GPs to allow their patients remain on the patches!

Were all these GPs misprescribing? Is the pain being endured by these poor people imagined?

I have been shaken to the core listening to these sufferers, but I know my distress is nothing compared to the pain they are enduring all day every day, all night, every night.

The reaction of the State to the pleadings of these vulnerable, powerless, dignified sufferers has been to dismiss their concerns – but the HSE has not robustly challenged the manufacturer of this medication for cost reductions.

Yes, the sufferers are only a small and powerless percentage of the population, but their suffering is 100% genuine. They should be listened to by all citizens.