Scottish campaigners call for long Covid to be treated as a disability

Long Covid sufferers in Scotland have considered travelling abroad to receive specialist treatment for the “debilitating” condition which has left some of them “housebound”, MSPs heard.

Those suffering with the long-term effects of coronavirus shared their experiences at a crossparty meeting with experts and MSPs in the Scottish Parliament.

The Long Covid Scotland campaign group has now issued nine actions it says are required by the Scottish Government.

They include urging ministers to pressure the UK Government to recognise the condition as a disability under the Equality Act 2010 and providing additional funding for specialist clinics.

Callum O’Dwyer, 30, has suffered with the illness since March 2020 and

For many people huge aspects of their lives have been torn away

said it is tough to see people travel and move on with their lives while he is still “locked down” by the virus due to muscle weakness, fatigue and heart, lung and brain issues.

Mr O’Dwyer, who now works for a Scottish Labour MSP, has had to move in with his parents in Aberdeenshire to receive specialist care.

He said: “Whenever I speak to my GP, he tells me the same thing: ‘There’s no pathway, and there’s no treatment.’

“For so many people, huge aspects of their lives have been completely torn away from them with long Covid and the Scottish Government might think in terms of what they’re doing is enough – but it is not enough.”

He called on Health Secretary Humza Yousaf to listen to the pleas of sufferers and invest in clinics and research into long Covid.

“Long Covid isn’t going anywhere and we’re not going to take a substandard level of care,” he said.

He said he has considered travelling to Germany for apheresis treatment but he claims he cannot afford the “considerable expense”.

The treatment is based on the fact that Covid-19 can cause blood clots and damage the lining of small blood vessels, potentially causing long Covid.