Doctors will defy Government guidelines and prescribe wonder drug Viagra to save marriages, an East Lancashire GP predicted today.

"There will be no rationing - it is not acceptable to the medical profession," said Nelson family doctor Dr Qazi Jehangir.

He called on national health bosses to back the judgement of GPs in deciding which patients are seeking the anti-impotence drug purely for pleasure.

"It is not a National Sex Service, but a National Health Service and we must provide help for all patients in need," he added.

"Trust us to identify those who are seeking to abuse the service and to help those in genuine need," he said.

Dr Jehangir, a GP for more than 25 years, made his appeal after the doctor's governing body, the British Medical Association called on GPs to ignore Government guidelines restricting the prescription of Viagra to men suffering from a small number of specific conditions, including multiple sclerosis and diabetes.

Health Secretary Frank Dobson said the drug should only be available to patients whose impotence was causing severe distress only in exceptional circumstances and only after a specialist assessment in hospital.

The ruling has sparked fears that consultants' waiting rooms will be flooded with men seeking the drug - with an estimated 7,000 men suffering from stress-related impotence in East Lancashire. Blackburn erectile dysfunction specialist Dr Bob Wilkinson said he expected to be overwhelmed with men referred by GPs and his clinic would not be able to cope.

He called for much stricter guidelines, including how many pills should be perscribed per person.

In Burnley specialist consultant Alistair McGeorge said Viagra would cost East Lancashire Health Authority £2 million a year if there was a Viagra free-for-all.

But Dr Jehangir said the health secretary's guidelines, based on cost, were wrong.

"Cost should not be a factor.

"Many patients suffer extreme distress and Viagra will considerably improve quality of life and many marriages."

He said referrals to hospital consultants would only increase stress for men and compound the problem.

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