A PENSIONER was asked to pay thousands of pounds to save his sight despite NHS treatment being freely available in other parts of Scotland, the SNP claimed yesterday, condemning it as ''postcode lottery''.

Robert Ritchie, 78, was told by Grampian University Hospitals NHS Trust that he would have to pay for the injections he needs, but cannot afford to, according to his MSP, Stewart Stevenson.

Mr Ritchie suffers from age-related macular degeneration that causes his eyesight to deteriorate. To slow down the affects he requires a series of injections that cost (pounds) 850 each. The trust said Mr Ritchie, of Peterhead, would have to pay and blamed central government for the funding crisis.

Mr Stevenson, SNP deputy health minister, said: ''It beggars belief that pensioners in Banff and Buchan have to pay for this treatment in order to save their sight while in other areas such as Dumfries and Galloway, the condition would have been treated free of charge.''

Mr Ritchie said: ''As a pensioner I have taken nothing from the state ... If I paid for the treatment I would be left with nothing.''

As the issue emerged yesterday, it was revealed that the Scottish Executive is making available an additional (pounds) 5m which local health authorities can spend on buying private treatment for patients waiting for certain kinds of surgery, such as orthopaedic or urological.