Galway has highest number of patients getting Ozempic on medical card costing HSE €90,000 a month

More than 1,000 people across the city and county are getting the injections on the medical card, with the Health Service Executive (HSE) spending €2.3 million on the drugs between January 2023 and last September.

Another 2,814 Galway patients for the jabs for free on the Long-Term Illness Scheme (LTI) last year, costing the HSE €7.4 million over the same 33-month period; while 158 availed of the medications on the Drugs Payment Scheme (DPS) at a cost of €382,054.

The total spend on Ozempic and similar injections on free drugs schemes in Galway amounted to €10.1 million during those two years and nine months – the third-highest amount of any local health area in the country.

Ozempic is widely used privately for weight loss through off-label prescriptions but the HSE covers the cost of the drug through the medical card or LTI scheme only where a patient is diagnosed with diabetes.

However, Saxenda is funded by the HSE for the purpose of weight management through the medical card and DPS. Like Ozempic, this is an injectable GLP-1 drug that reduces appetite and lowers blood sugar.

Records released by the HSE under the Freedom of Information Act show significant increases in demand for the medications under the free drugs schemes in Galway.

The number of medical-card holders availing of the jabs has climbed by 20% since the beginning of 2023, with spending on course to soar by around 60% during the full 12 months of last year.

A total of 2,008 Galway patients received the injections on the LTI scheme in 2023 at a cost of €2.2 million. Last year, the number had grown by 40% and the cost was projected to have risen by nearly 46% to €3.2 million by the end of 2025.

The number of patients getting the drugs on the DPS soared from 54 in 2023 to 158 last year, with costs climbing from €51,424 in 2023 to €183,622 in just the first nine months of last year.

The records reveal that providing Ozempic and Saxenda to patients on free drugs schemes in Galway is costing the HSE an average of €380,804 every month.

Galway had the highest number of patients getting the jabs on the medical card, topping the table ahead of Limerick, Kildare/West Wicklow, and Laois/Offaly, and also had the highest spend under the scheme.

It ranked third nationally in terms of the number of patients in the county availing of the drugs under the LTI scheme, trailing the Kildare/West Wicklow and North Dublin health areas.

When the three schemes are combined, Galway had the third-highest spend on Ozempic and Saxenda over the 33-month period, with the HSE picking up a €10.1 million bill.

Kildare/West Wicklow topped the table with €12.5 million, and was followed by North Dublin with €11.4 million. Limerick trailed Galway with just under €9.6 million.

A spokesman for the HSE said processes are underway that will ultimately decide whether other weight-loss medications such as Mounjaro and Wegovy will be reimbursed under the free drugs schemes.

He noted that Ozempic lacks marketing authorisation for the indication of weight management, and is therefore funded by the HSE for the treatment of adults with insufficiently controlled diabetes.