Galway MS sufferer denied life-changing drug over a tenner a day
A Galway woman with multiple sclerosis is being denied a drug that costs a tenner a day which enables her to simply walk.
After battling for a year to get her medical card and then a grant for a specially adapted car, Rosaleen Rafter has taken her fight public to get vital medication funded by the Health Service Executive in a bid to maintain her independence for as long as she can.
She received the drug Fampyra for two and a half years as part of a medical trial that ended last June, at which stage she was told she would have to cough up €275 a month to continue the medication.
Fampyra helps her walk, allows her to walk longer distances without having to rest and improves her balance, allowing the mum of two to get on with life as best she can at her home in Killeeneen, between Craughwell and Kilcolgan.
When the 61-year-old - who highlighted her case this week on TV3's People's Debate with Vincent Browne - gave up the drug because she could not afford it on a pension, she was no longer able to do physio or walk around on her own without risking a fall.
The HSE has not included Fampyra on its list of reimbursable drugs after the National Centre for Pharmaco-economics found it was not cost effective at €7,000 a year per patient.
See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.