The mesh implants are used to ease incontinence and to support organs
The party’s local Health spokesperson was commenting after the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) issued their latest guidelines on the use of mesh implant surgery.
Use of vaginal mesh was halted across the UK last year amid safety concerns.
NICE said operations must be performed by specialist surgeons at specialist centres before their reintroduction.
All instances – and outcomes – of vaginal mesh operations should also be recorded on a national database “to help with future decision-making”, it said.
Said Sandra Duffy: “The new guidelines not only ignore the thousands of women who have had their lives ruined by mesh but also growing international evidence of inadequate testing and poor practices in the manufacture of mesh products.
Sinn Fein Health spokesperson Sandra Duffy
“Recent comments by NICE officials that the guidelines offered ‘new tools to help patients to navigate options’ so that ‘women make the best decision for themselves,’ is totally irresponsible.
“A medical oversight body for the EU concluded that poor testing and failure to properly record adverse reactions to mesh implant surgery rendered the notion of patient consent impossible.
“No one knows what the real risks associated with mesh are because records have not been properly kept and evidence is still emerging.
“Ignoring the experience patients who suffered complications as a result of mesh implants risks condemning another generation to life changing injury,” added Sinn Fein’s health spokesperson.
