Viagra: What you think

Health

Viagra: What you think

BBC Television's Panorama is making a programme on Viagra. It wants to hear from anyone who has considered taking the drug or has a strong view on it.

If you are interested in taking part in the programme, ring Panorama on 0181 752 4914.

Viagra should only be used for proven medical usage and Not generally available under the national health service.
P. J. Tucker, UK

Viagra to bankrupt the NHS? 'So what, one in ten men need it', do I hear? Jaded middle-aged males have loud voices, suddenly, in their clamour for Viagra to be freely available on the NHS. Doctors and other health professionals are joining the fray with arguments for a uniform NHS policy across the country for the prescription of this sex-enhancing drug. What planet are they all on? I am a middle-aged man and I have had my share of impotence problems. So what? I certainly would not want one clinically ill person deprived of the medication they need just so I can have an erection on the NHS.
What I would like to know is, just how many people realise that huge numbers of elderly people (my mother among them) suffering from the early symptoms of a genuinely distressing condition - dementia - are at this moment denied access to medication the NHS accepts is effective in the majority of cases, simply because they happen to live in the wrong place? Others, living elsewhere, are more fortunate - they are being treated with new drugs like Aricept and Excelon on prescriptions paid for quite properly by our so-called 'National' Health Service.
Ending this outrageous discrimination against the elderly on the basis of where they happen to live must become a priority for this government before it sanctions a single NHS prescription for Viagra, if its caring credentials for the weakest and most vulnerable in society are not to be seen as a hollow and shabby deception.
John P Bennett, UK

Is it not possible that male impotence is a form of natural selection? Perhaps it is society, its stresses and other environmental conditions that have contributed to the increasing cases of impotence. While I agree it is harsh on those that are impotent, perhaps we should not make Viagra available on the NHS, especially if this is going to cause financial problems as has been suggested.
Dan Cockerton, Cambridge, England

I do not think that Viagra should be covered by the NHS in Britain (nor by medicaid/medicare programs in the USA). In fact, looking at the state of the world and its problems, I think that about the last thing we need is a sex drug. It is an insult to sufferers of cancer, Aids, heart disease, etc to even think that sexual enhancement should compete for monies from the same pot. The problem Viagra deals with is comparable to cosmetic surgery eg breast enlargement or liposuction (excluding cases of life-threatening "morbid" obesity). I also note that the drug is not free of certain risks, and an array of cardiac function tests should accompany prescription.
Dorian Borsella, USA

Research concludes that the vast majority of impotence cases are psychological not physical ie the man can function without his regular partner. Why should the taxpayer pay to resuscitate the sex lives of those who cannot accept the inevitable; that passion is a fleeting emotion.
J Cahill, UK

Viagra is a medicine, just as any other prescription drug is. The indication for which it is meant has lead to unprecedented media hype. This has lead to counter-criticism. For the people who are indeed suffering from ED, Viagra is undoubtedly a godsend. Others, who are not handicapped may feel that it is a luxury or a pleasure medicine or a performance enhancer. It is up to the regulatory agencies to strictly control its prescription. If prescriptions are controlled, then NHS coverage should not be a problem. Just because a majority is obsessed with enhanced performance, the really needy should not be punished.
B Vijayaraghavan, New Delhi, India

I do not believe that Viagra should be made available on the NHS. At the same time I do not agree that many other forms of assistance to the childless should be available, until such time as it is possible to treat properly, and speedily, those patients who find themselves facing serious or debilitating conditions which could be alleviated if only the resources were not being diverted to cosmetic or non-lifethreatening cases.
Chris Rogers, UK

I'm pleased with some submissions to this debate, particularly from those directly involved with the treatment of couples (and yes, this supposedly male only problem also affects the partners). The objective view is that the abuse of this treatment will not help those couples with genuine problems, and that the NHS will not be able to sustain such abuse. However, in response to claims that a fuss would not ensue if Viagra was a drug for women, well, if these respondents had any knowledge of this issue, and submitted comments based on fact rather than dogma, they would be aware that a version is under development for women who have sexual problems, including achieving orgasm. Very worthy, though I suspect that after painting men suffering from impotency as whinging penis worshippers, the typical feminist will perceive this as a genuine medical problem. When this drug is available, I wonder how many women without sexual problems will feel equally tempted to give themselves "something extra"? Indeed, it is believed that some women have already experimented with the male version. Are they sad and obsessed with their vulvas? I'm afraid that this is the usual old tosh; a minority jumping on anything can be used as a lever to further portray men as inferior. Admittedly, some are, but then some women can be considered inferior - it's all relative. It's a shame that this issue is, without fail, reduced to needless sniping at the opposite sex. A more objective look at the quirks of both men and women gives both sexes opportunity for criticism of the other. My opinion is that this drug should only be available from non-NHS clinics, and only on a private prescription. This will unfortunately affect the genuine cases, but we live in a society where the actions of others will spoil things for everyone. There are indeed many other maladies (afflicting both men and women) that should be eligible for treatment under the NHS. I don't agree that anybody (both sexes included, note) should be prescribed such a treatment purely to enhance their sexual performance.
D.T. Coates, England

Let it be over the counter - like aspirin. Anything else and there's going to be a black market.
Andrew Wright

How can we possibly justify making Viagra available on the NHS - it would be a complete and criminal waste of hard-earned taxpayers money. The NHS is stretched enough as it is and priority should be given to providing services that are really needed. Even if the prescription given was for just 1 pill, this would be subsidising the cost by two-thirds or so - a much higher subsidy than for, say, dental treatment. People were much more capable of coming to terms with minor irritations such as this in the past - we've become such a demanding and 'instant' society that we think we have a 'right' to everything (especially when it comes to anything sex-related).
Stewart Brown, England

I am a nurse practitioner operating a clinic for erectile dysfunction (the posh name for Impotence).
1. GPs will not have the time to fully assess each man who arrives asking for viagra. Genuinely impotent men (and their partners) usually take an hour or so to assess.
2. A lot of men will seek this drug as a 'performance enhancer' rather than as treatment for a genuine need.
3. Current treatments for ED are good and effective. They are also cheaper by about 50%.
4. I do not think that the NHS can afford to prescribe for everyone who requests the drug.
5. I suspect that for accurate assessment GPs will have to refer their patients to specialised clinics. This will increase waiting lists for patients and could be devastating to failing relationships.
Peter Clark, UK

We cannot afford to provide full care for genuinely ill people, let alone provide erections for all at public expense.
Elderly people are having to sell their homes to provide for their own care, and the queue to get onto the official waiting list for operations is growing all the time. Should we be pandering to people's sexual desires at the expense of the sick? There is more to life than sex.
Jon Stone, UK

Male impotence is often a psychological problem caused by stress and exacerbated by fear of impotence, creating a vicious circle. In these cases, and where the impotence is having a profound effect on a man's life, I believe Viagra should be prescribed in the same way as Prozac ie as an essential cure for a psychological problem. My problem, and I suspect the problem of many other women, is that I see no reason why men should be prescribed Viagra as a recreational drug, simply in order to improve their performance in bed. As if men weren't overly impressed by their own penises as it is, there is no need to encourage them to make it any worse. And I object very strongly to having the NHS (and us taxpayers!) financially support men's sex lives.
Fiona Kellington, UK

It is a function of social class and occupation as to why a man's capacity to stand and deliver, as it were, is reduced as youthful Romeos are dragged by Time's relentless claws of age into the abyss of the yawning grave. It is very much a delightfully Orwellian form of revenge on the middle classes. If a man passes his life in unscrupulous competition while crushing his prostate sitting in padded chairs wearing bikini briefs instead of driving nails, shovelling sand and welding steel, while standing in proletarian boxer shorts, then, yes, he is going to have terrific problems when forty rolls around with deflationary-promoting maladies such as epididymisitis, prostate infections, bent or permanently closed sperm tubes, and other horrible maladies which make me retract at the mere thought of their occurrence.
Many are the eighty year old codgers (amongst them my Dad) who are notoriously priapic and disgustingly active romantically. I do not attribute most of these geezers' continuing success at enjoying living solely to better physical health. The working classes are more inclined to be less willing -or able - to disabuse themselves of such obsolescent notions as "One has to love the person before lovemaking is possible," rather than today's conception of "performance," which is being able to mount anyone, anytime and anywhere, for no good reason at all. They are naive, you see. They believe in all that bumph like good and evil, love and hate, the worth of it all, having a harmless good time, and not particularly giving a damn about their own particular social standing.
Rather than dispense Viagra, I propose the National Health Service distribute an ancient Greek gizmo which consisted of a small stone ring of around 1-1/2 to 2" calibre which you put over your Personality when it is just marginally tumescent. When in Hindenburg mode, the ring served to keep blood from backflowing, so that the old piledriver stayed in position for as long as Nikos and Stavros wanted it to. I still have not figured out how they got the thing off when done, which, I suppose, is why the practice of using these rings was abandoned. Either that or give the middle class ransackers of the poor, scum lords, and lying thieves and lawyers lessons in how to love, care, and express their decent side, or what little of it may be left. I was in an NHS hospital once for walking pneumonia, and I dare say there is no woman more fetching than an NHS nurse (something about the uniform). I wouldn't mind a lesson or two myself, if they're up for it. (You can't end an essay like this without a pun, especially when it is addressed to a country that produced the likes of DJ Enright).
Walt O'Brien, Vermont, USA

For once science has come up with a useful drug. It should be available worldwide as soon as possible. Don't you know that animal species are being made extinct for their body parts which have an alleged aphrodisiac power ie tigers, of which there are less than 5,000 left in the world. Yes, make it available on the NHS.
Malcolm Baird, UK

If Viagra was a potency pill for women I am sure there wouldn't be all this fuss - in fact no one would want to know at all. I am very much against having to subsidise the male obsession with sexual performance through the NHS. I'm sure many other women would agree with me.
Catherine Brake, UK

If Viagra helps men not only phsyically but also mentally - by getting rid of male angst - then I believe it is a very valuable drug which should be available on the NHS. Many marriages must end because of the problems caused by impotency. And if not married, impotent men must still suffer from bad depression. Therefore such a drug has much more wide reaching benefits than simply helping sexual performance and should be considered important enough to be made available through a public service.
Ray King, UK

• Viagra: Tell us what you think

  Please include details of your name and country.

This is a part of article Viagra: What you think Taken from "Sildenafil Citrate Tablet" Information Blog