Fifty-five-year-old Prakash, who has been battling depression and anxiety for over a decade, relies on the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) at Erragadda here for medicines. Residing in a village near the Telangana-Karnataka border, he and his family members travel to the city once every month or two to collect the medicines. However, supply of medicines at the government hospital has been erratic at least for the past four months.
“When we run short of medicines, my father’s anxiety level shoots up. He lives in fear,” says Prakash’s son, as he clenches his fist and releases it repeatedly to indicate a pulsating heart to describe the fear. He added that they started to face issues with supply of medicines at the hospital post lockdown.
Theirs is not the lone case. Attendants of many other patients also have been facing similar problems in getting medicines at the hospital pharmacy.
33% have anxiety
Doctors at the hospital said out of around 300 patients that they attend per day, 100 have depression and anxiety. These patients, accompanied by their attendants, visit the facility from different parts of the State for consultations and medicines. The doctors admitted that a shortage in medicines given to patients with depression, anxiety and epilepsy associated with mental health illnesses, in the past four months.
“Since our pharmacy does not have the new generation medicines, older generation medicines are issued to the patients. However, the older generation drugs have side effects. That is the reason we depend on the new generation drugs and are in dire need of that. Erratic use of the medicines can aggravate depression and anxiety leading to grave consequences,” a doctor says. Medicines to treat epilepsy associated with mental health illnesses too are in short supply.
Patients and their family members are starting to see the side effects of the older generation drugs. Satish, who walks down the pharmacy ramp holding a notebook with prescription and medicines, says he was at the hospital to collect medicines for his aunt who lives in Khammam. “One of the medicines helped put my aunt to sleep. On some days, she spends sleepless nights wailing just like that woman there,” he says, pointing to a patient in distress near IMH pharmacy. Satish says though his family has bought medicines from private pharmacies, the substitutes do not work too well.
Another attendant says they spent ₹600 to ₹700 per month on the medicines.
Authorities informed
The pharmacy staff, however, claim that the issue has been resolved. A few attendants have taken the issue of medicine shortage to the notice of IMH superintendent, and additional director, whose numbers are mentioned on a big board in the out-patient block. Hopsital superintendent M. Umashankar was not available at his office on Wednesday morning, and was not reachable over phone either.
(Names of patients changed to protect identity)