Mesh campaigners have criticised the Scottish Government for ignoring their concerns – only weeks after new First Minister Humza Yousaf said he would be “open” to meeting them. Patients blame surgical mesh products for leaving them disabled and in chronic pain, and want an independent review into the use of the products.
Campaigners had told how they had been denied multiple requests for meetings with Yousaf when he was Health Secretary. Then, during a Holyrood debate in January, he said he was “open to meeting” campaigners, which led to another request in February.
But they have now received another rejection letter. Scottish Global Mesh Alliance campaigner Roseanna Clarkin, who has been left with crippling pain after mesh was used on her umbilical hernia in 2015, has blasted the government for “ignoring” those affected by mesh procedures.
The 39-year-old, from Clydebank, said: “When he was Health Secretary, Mr Yousaf refused to meet us, then at the debate said he would be open to hearing us out.
"However, they have again refused any meaningful opportunity to listen to those whose lives have been severely affected. We are living proof of how people can be left to live in pain. Why won’t they meet us? Why won’t they listen?”
The letter from Social Care Minister Maree Todd, dated March 20 – days before Yousaf became First Minister – said the Government was “not in a position to meet with campaigners at the present time”.
The SNP MSP went on to state she did “not believe it to be appropriate, or proportional, to commission further reviews or indeed to halt the use of mesh while any such review is carried out”.
Todd would only suggest a meeting with officials from advisory group the Scottish Health Technologies Group, which set out recommendations in 2021 to continue the availability of mesh as an option for elective repair of hernia operations in adults.
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.
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 at Holyrood. It wants to suspend the use of all surgical mesh and fixation devices while a review is carried out.
During the debate in January, Yousaf said to suspend the use of mesh would leave a cohort of people with limited or no treatment options.
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