MORE than 1,500 people in Herefordshire are backing multiple sclerosis sufferers in their battle to get the drugs they need, writes

ELIZABETH WATKINS.

They have signed a nation wide petition, which will be delivered to Prime Minister Tony Blair at Downing Street at the end of the month.

The petition reminds the Premier of his promise that the NHS would be 'based on need, not ability to pay' but this promise may soon be broken for people with MS.

Recently a leaked report from the National Institute of Clinical Excellence suggested that it was to advise the Government that the drug beta interferon, prescribed for some MS sufferers should be discontinued on the grounds of cost, and its effectiveness. Since then MS societies all over the country have been making their objections known and the petition is calling on the Prime Minister not to allow its withdrawal to happen.

Only medication available

The national society says that while the drug is not a cure, and is not suitable for every sufferer,it is the only drug available and brings great benefits to some people.

It helps to reduce the severity of some of the symptoms giving people a chance to live a more normal life, and often carry on with their work.

One sufferer Ann Lane of Luston near Leominster says that already it is difficult to get a prescription for beta interferon. "It is like trying to ask for the national debt to be cleared in full,'' she said.

A sufferer for 17 years, and now permanently in a wheel chair she said the National Institute for Clinical Excellence needed another nudge in the right direction to make the drug more available for people like her.

"I may be out of order, but I am sure if any of these people, or a member of their family, had MS it would probably be a different story,'' she said. Ann, who described MS as a frustrating and painful disease, as well as destructive in the way it could break up marriages, and end careers is also seeing the support of Leominster MP Peter Temple-Morris.