The Scottish Government has spent more than £3.6million on surgical mesh products that campaigners claim have devastating effects on their health and bodies. Patients want an independent review into the products and procedures but Health Secretary Humza Yousaf has ruled it out.
Paperwork reveals in January last year the Government spent £3,630,250 for a 24-month supply of hernia mesh products for use by NHS Scotland from six medical suppliers. The use of mesh in vaginal surgeries has been banned by the Scottish Government.
Roseanna Clarkin, of the Scottish Global Mesh Alliance, has been left with crippling pain after mesh was used on her umbilical hernia in 2015. The mum-of-three, from Clydebank, said: “The Scottish Government has spent over £3.6million on a contract for hernia mesh devices and fixations.
“We want them to hold an independent review into the use of mesh because we say it’s incredibly damaging but they keep telling us it’s fine. We are living proof that mesh procedures are not always fine.
“We’ve been telling the Government we are no different and an urgent review is needed. It all comes down to money because the Government has already spent a huge sum on the products for the next two years.”
Mhairi Foley had mesh abdominal repair treatment after a Caesarean section in 2019 – a procedure she said left her disabled and in excruciating pain. Mhairi, 42, from Dunfermline, said: “The Government has spent more than £3.6million on mesh. That’s a lot of money that would be wasted if they had to hold a review to discover that mesh is problematic to human health.”
From the late 90s until 2018, women in Scotland were treated with polypropylene mesh implants for stress urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse. In some it caused severe pain and life-changing side effects, including mesh erosion, which often led to further surgery.
While the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review called for a pause in the use of vaginal mesh, the products are not banned for all procedures. The Scottish Global Mesh Alliance was behind the petition calling for an independent review which was debated in Parliament earlier this month.
It wants to suspend the use of surgical mesh and fixation devices while a review of all surgical procedures which use polyester, polypropylene or titanium is carried out. In 2021 the Scottish Health Technologies Group (SHTG) recommended the continued availability of mesh as an option for elective repair of hernia operations in adults.
During the debate the Health Secretary said, given the conclusions of the SHTG, a further review into mesh would not be “warranted”.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “The document details a previous five-year framework for the supply of hernia mesh products. This has ended and was replaced by a new framework on April 1, 2021. Any suggestion that cost is a rationale for the use of any mesh product in Scotland is not true.”
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