A World War II veteran rapidly losing his sight is selling his house to afford his treatment as his condition is not advanced enough to be treated on the NHS.88 year old Jack Tagg from Torquay suffers from age-related macular degeneration, or AMD, and has put his house on the market to raise the cash for the treatment he needs after being refused care from the NHS. Mr Tagg was told that unless he has lost his vision in his left eye; he could not receive the vital injections of the drug Lucentis which could reverse the process and restore his sight, as guidelines currently suggest only suffers with advanced AMD should be treated, "calculated cruelty"according to Tagg.
Age-related macular degeneration is the most common case of blindness in the UK, according to the BBC, so couldn't prevention be better than cure and shouldn't the treatment be available for all sufferers; regardless of the stage the condition is at?
The large amount of media focus surrounding this story has drawn attention to Mr Tagg's plight and has resulted in cheques from the public flooding in to pay the £10,000 for the injections he needs, whilst strangely other areas in the South-West of England offer this treatment for free. Mr Tagg's GP Dr Martin Rankin has accused the government of "forgetting" the World War II pilot and they have both descended on Downing Street this week, targeting PM Gordon Brown himself.
Dr Rankin appealed directly to the Prime Minister about the situation and was quoted as saying:
"When Hitler decided he wanted to run Britain, like thousands of other brave men and women of his generation, Jack joined the RAF. It seems to me that what Jack did for us has now been forgotten by your government.
"We would ask that you pay the cheques we have handed to your staff in to your personal account and then forward a cheque onto Mr Jack Tagg. We hope that being humiliated in this way will force you to sort out the problem, not just for Jack, but for everyone else in his wretched position."
Dr Rankin appealed directly to the Prime Minister about the situation and was quoted as saying:
"When Hitler decided he wanted to run Britain, like thousands of other brave men and women of his generation, Jack joined the RAF. It seems to me that what Jack did for us has now been forgotten by your government.
"We would ask that you pay the cheques we have handed to your staff in to your personal account and then forward a cheque onto Mr Jack Tagg. We hope that being humiliated in this way will force you to sort out the problem, not just for Jack, but for everyone else in his wretched position."
Mr Tagg said of the campaign:
"We shall continue until they agree this simple and economic measure, because if you let people go blind they need more care."
"We shall continue until they agree this simple and economic measure, because if you let people go blind they need more care."
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