Sir, - In 1982, after an accident in which I broke my back, I was left paralysed and confined to a wheelchair. After a few years on welfare, I decided to hand back my invalidity pension and take up employment. I now have serious doubts about the wisdom of that decision. Why would anyone with a spinal injury seek employment or stay in employment when they automatically lose their medical card?
How can we begin to contemplate a proper health care service when our service providers do not acknowledge permanent paralysis as a long-term illness? There are definitely excessive costs involved in living with such a permanent condition.
The scheme that I qualify for is called the Drugs Cost Subsidisation Scheme, under which I pay £32 each month towards my medical expenses. Over the years various studies have shown that with all the additional costs involved, this scheme does not address the real issues that affect the lives of people with spinal injuries. It should be noted that different disabilities have different requirements. A person with a spinal injury needs some type of health service and care, as we are vulnerable to urinary tract infections and pressure sores and some of us are in constant pain.
On occasions we find ourselves using old medication - antibiotics, for example - as we cannot afford to continually attend GPs. To maintain an independent lifestyle I sit in a £2,000 wheelchair, with a £400 cushion (to prevent skin problems). Maintaining the wheelchair is quite expensive, as my environment is not barrier-free. It should also be noted that private health insurance will not cover spinal injuries until you have been a paying member for five years.
People with spinal injuries are looking for encouragement to seek employment, or to remain in employment, as the majority of us worked before our accidents. To allow us to retain our medical card is a small price to pay.
Prior to the last Budget there were subtle proposals to increase the cost of the Drugs Cost Subsidisation Scheme, and last week, I was informed that the Department of Health sanctioned the increase by £10, under, supposedly, a new scheme called the New Community Drugs Scheme, which will come into operation on April 1st, 1999. I am outraged at the justification of an increase by a so-called new scheme which does not, once again, address the real issues that affect our lives, i.e. providing some kind of a health care service to enable us to maintain employment.
This new scheme will further marginalise people with spinal injuries, as pharmacists got notification to say fewer medical items will be approved under the new scheme. I would like to remind Government politicians that while they were in opposition they launched a policy document on disability. It was aptly named "Meeting the Challenge to Equality". We were promised that our serious issues concerning the anomalies and the injustices in the health care service would be addressed.
I invite all organisations representing the interests of people with disabilities to collectively address this issue, and get it put on the political agenda. We must restore some dignity to people with spinal injuries. Who knows when it might be you or one of yours? - Yours, etc., Laz Mahon,
Russell Street, Dublin 1.