More men should get access to Viagra on the NHS in order to slow down the trade in fake medicines, the British Medical Association (BMA) has said.
The doctors' group called on the Government to look again at who is eligible for drugs to treat erectile dysfunction (ED). Chairman Dr Hamish Meldrum said that the BMA had "always been against the rather discriminatory way" in which some patients got Viagra and others did not.
The BMA's view is that doctors should be able to prescribe Viagra and other ED drugs to all patients with a demonstrable clinical need.
Dr Meldrum said there was currently a "rather awful half-way house" where some men were treated while others were denied help. This meant some men were forced to go private while others turned to the internet to buy pills that could be fake or harmful.
"We are aware that many internet sites are offering it (Viagra) at a price lower than you would get it at the chemist," he said.
"There are problems with this, the first that you might not actually be getting Viagra. At best it may be an inert substance, at worst a positively dangerous substance."
The second problem was that patients did not undergo a thorough consultation to see if the drug may interfere with other medicines they were on.
He said it was the job of the Government rather than the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) to look at the issue.
He said: "This is really almost a political decision about whether you get it on the NHS."
Dr Meldrum added: "I think where they are drawing the line at the moment is not a very good place."
The restrictions caused a row in 1999, when Frank Dobson, the health secretary, imposed the limits on who could get access to the drug.
