Bernard Allen
Question:129 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Health and Children if he proposes to make nicotine replacement therapy available to medical card holders. [23826/99]
Written Answers. - General Medical Services Scheme.
For a product to be available to medical card holders on the general medical services scheme, it must satisfy a number of criteria, including that it is ordinarily supplied to the public only on foot of a medical prescription and that the product should not be advertised or promoted to the public. Nicotine replacement therapies belong to a category of products that do not satisfy these criteria, in that they are generally available over-the-counter, and may be advertised directly to the public. Accordingly, they are not included in the list of items reimbursable under the common list.
The Deputy will be aware that the Government recently launched the cardiovascular health strategy Building Healthier Hearts. I have taken particular note of the recommendation in the report that there is a role for nicotine replacement therapy as one part of the overall fight against smoking. I recognise that measures must be strengthened to enable people wanting to kick the habit, to do so. I have asked the advisory forum to the heart health task force to bring forward to me proposals on how we can make available nicotine replacement therapy for medical card users as a matter of urgency as one part of the overall fight against smoking.
The Department's health promotion unit conducts national multi-media anti-smoking campaigns to encourage smokers to give up and non-smokers to refrain from taking up the habit. The most recent anti-smoking campaign Break the Habit for Good was launched in December 1998 and this campaign takes a slightly different approach to previous campaigns. It emphasises the positive effects which quitting smoking can have on the individual and offers support in the form of an Advice Kit which in turn offers the support of the Irish Cancer Society's helpline. The campaign con tinues, by a series of national and local initiatives, to offer help and support for those people wishing to give up smoking.