Due to a huge drop in the price of Viagra, doctors are now able to prescribe it to any man who suffers serious impotence issues.
The original Viagra pill's patent expired in June 2013, allowing rival pharmaceutical companies to create their own versions of the name-brand drug using the active ingredient, sildenafil.
This has caused the cost to plummet by 93% from £21.27 to £1.45 for a pack of four tablets.
Until now, NHS budget restrictions meant prescriptions could only be handed to men whose impotence problems were a side effect of conditions such as prostate cancer and diabetes, or those analysed by specialists.
Mark Speakman, president of the British Association of Urological Surgeons, explained the NHS's former rules surrounding the drug.
"They made the fairly arbitrary decision that if you had a discrete illness – like prostate cancer, diabetes or a spinal cord injury – you could get it on the NHS," he said.
"But if you were a man of a certain age and wearing out a bit, you could only get a private prescription and you had to pay full whack."
The original Viagra pill's patent expired in June 2013, allowing rival pharmaceutical companies to create their own versions of the name-brand drug using the active ingredient, sildenafil.
This has caused the cost to plummet by 93% from £21.27 to £1.45 for a pack of four tablets.
Until now, NHS budget restrictions meant prescriptions could only be handed to men whose impotence problems were a side effect of conditions such as prostate cancer and diabetes, or those analysed by specialists.
Mark Speakman, president of the British Association of Urological Surgeons, explained the NHS's former rules surrounding the drug.
"They made the fairly arbitrary decision that if you had a discrete illness – like prostate cancer, diabetes or a spinal cord injury – you could get it on the NHS," he said.
"But if you were a man of a certain age and wearing out a bit, you could only get a private prescription and you had to pay full whack."