Discworld author criticises NHS priorities
Discworld author Terry Pratchett has criticised a decision to limit the drug Aricept through the NHS to people in the later stages of Alzheimer’s disease, saying that the decision not to give it to early stage sufferers, but to provide free treatment for obesity and sexual impotence, indicates the NHS “priorities are not right”. He thinks this is in part due to the disease affecting old people who are “softer targets”.
His words will strike a chord for many who are ill. It does seem odd to a lot of people that obesity, in the majority of cases down to people eating too much and exercising too little, results not in psychological counselling being offered on the NHS but pills that make it difficult for the body to absorb fat from food, and even stomach staples. Certainly the presentation of obesity as illness—even resulting from a genetic predisposition—is claimed by those highly critical of the approach to provide some with an excuse for eating more than their bodies need, or a reason to rush to the doctor for a quick-fix solution that doesn’t address the workings of the mind that dictate to them that they should hide away and eat ten chocolate bars one after the other.
tags: AIDS, Alzheimer's disease, anti-depressants, cancer, Discworld, funding, HIV, mental health, NHS, obesity, smoking, Terry Pratchett
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