Victims of the thalidomide scandal will be given extra help through a £3.4 million fund announced by the Scottish government.
According to the BBC, the money will help the 55 known survivors in Scotland adapt their homes and but specialised equipment. Health surgeon Nicola Sturgeon said many were still battling with the disabilities thalidomide had caused.
Pregnant women were prescribed the drug in the 1950s and 1960s as a treatment for morning sickness or insomnia. It was withdrawn from sale in 1961 after babies were born with limb deformities and other damage.
Ms Sturgeon said: “After discussions with the Thalidomide Trust, the Scottish government have committed £3.4 million to assist the survivors of thalidomide.
“Half a century later, the survivors of thalidomide are still battling against the disabilities the prescribing of the drug caused. Now as they become older, they are likely to need a range of assistance and adaptation to enable them to continue to live as independently as possible, for as long as possible and this funding will help them to do that.”
The money will provide support to the sufferers, many of whom were not expected to reach this point in their life due to the defects that the drug caused. The government accepted responsibility for the errors in making thalidomide available to patients as a prescription drug and continues to pay large sums of money to compensate the victims. As a consequence of failing to put in place adequate testing of the drug before making it available, it is right that the government should have to be the organisation that bites the financial bullet regarding the cost of alterations and maintenance for the thalidomide sufferers.
