Mayor Gives Away Free Viagra

April 21, 2008 · Filed Under News · Comment

A Chilean mayor has begun handing out free Viagra to older men in Lo Prado, a working class suburb near Santiago.

Mayor Gonzalo Navarette Munoz said he launched the program because “an active sexuality improves the overall quality of life.”

The mayor will give as many as four Viagra pills a month to every man who asks for it, as long as they are at least 60, pass a physical, and are registered with the municipality’s health service.
He says he was inspired by complaints from older patients about their poor sex lives while working as a doctor. “This is about giving our elderly population a better quality of life,” he told Chile’s national press.

“A doctor will have to certify that they suffer from erectile dysfunction and that their condition would not put them in danger of suffering cardio-respiratory side effects,” Navarrete said.

Mr. Navarette says that within the next few days physicians will start dispensing the drugs at their clinics and his office will pick up the bill. The mayor has assured financing for the program, which is estimated will cost around $20,000 in the first year.

In other countries, some government insurance plans provide Viagra, but Lo Prado hands the 50mg pills out courtesy of the taxpayers, with no membership in any public or private insurance plan required.

Critics have suggested this is just a ploy to get the local politician re-elected. But Mayor Navarette insists he is performing a valuable social service which, if successful, could be rolled out across Chile. Navarrete said some other mayors in the capital Santiago, which includes 34 municipalities, have told him they plan similar programs.

Although the mayor said he did not know how many pills had been distributed so far, he has already drawn up a list of some 1,500 men who have shown interest.