AUSTRALIAN soldiers who are entitled to taxpayer-funded Viagra pills have been warned about the dangers of erectile dysfunction drugs and told they can have just four tablets a month.

Defence personnel, including those on active duty in places such as Afghanistan, have also been informed they must be medically assessed as suffering from sexual performance problems before the pills will be prescribed to them.

The Defence surgeon-general has issued a health bulletin in response to concerns about the possible over-use and over-prescribing of the drugs by military personnel.

The warning applies to Viagra and Cialis medication and states that a proper diagnosis of erectile dysfunction must be made before troops can qualify for the drugs.

Service personnel deployed overseas, who qualify to receive the drugs, continue to obtain them on deployment.

Defence said higher doses were available if prescribed by a medical officer.

It said it had no idea how many defence members were using Viagra or Cialis and it confirmed the drugs were available to anyone who needed them, including soldiers at war.

Four brand name 50mg Viagra tablets sell for $115.95 on the internet and four 10mg Cialis tablets cost the same.

Generic Viagra can be purchased for $1.95 a tablet and blackmarket pills for even less.

"They are not to be prescribed for women," the Defence warning says. Under the heading "Phosphodiesterase Type 5 Inhibitors", which is the chemical name for drugs such as Viagra, the health bulletin says they can be prescribed only for "clinical erectile dysfunction" or for short-term treatment following surgery.

"The drug is to be accompanied by a medical review and treatment of underlying conditions," the bulletin reads.

Proving it was written by an expert, the warning had defence personnel typing into Google or dusting off their dictionaries when it told them the "aetology" for the drug was complex and multi-factorial.



"Diagnosis must be supported by clinical or sexual history," it stated. And it must be supported by an examination and investigation."