I had the opportunity of appearing before a pharmacy and therapeutic committee of our hospital to present my case for applying some new drugs to be added to our hospital formulary. It was quite a difficult task trying to get the members to agree on three new additions with each costing between 90 sens/tablet to RM 2.00/tablet when the present ones were a few hundred times cheaper ( chlorpromazine costs 3 sens/tablet, haloperidol 4 sens/tablet, and perphenazine 7 sens/tablet ). The newer drugs that are in the market at the moment are good with less side effects but can our patients have access to them when they cost so much more and the patients especially those with schizophrenia mostly come from the lower social class? Most of my patients will not afford to buy them even at cost price. Should we then subject them to the older drugs knowing fully well there are newer drugs that can reduce side effects and perhaps are even more efficacious?
Much have been said about the caring society and I guess a lot more people are more caring towards the mentally handicap. But I am sure a lot more can be done. Generally this caring thing are shown in spurts or during specific intervals such as the mental health week. Apart from that people forget about these unfortunate group of people who never ask to get mental illness. Now is the double celebration of Hari Raya Puasa and Chinese New Year and we get to see politicians going to present gifts to patients in the hospitals but I have never come across anyone visiting the psychiatric patients. If I miss such an occasion please enlighten me.
The point is much can be done to lighten the load of these patients and their families. A lot of help has been given to cancer patients in terms of subsidized treatment. The same can be said for a number of other diseases including heart diseases. The psychiatric patient suffers almost lifelong so the caring should be lifelong and not confined to specific durations. I feel the government should help by providing them with subsidised treatment if not free treatment. This can be done by ensuring that drugs used by psychiatric patients are sold cheaply. If necessary the government can subsidise the price of these drugs. Or else the Welfare Department should provide regular financial help to all patients with no income for how else can they finance their treatment and support their families. Perhaps there should be a committee within the Welfare Department that looks into these aspects. This will lower the burden of relatives who already have to cope with an unpredictable person within their home.
I hope the MPA can
and will do something in this area as well. I am sure the present office
bearers can lobby for a more active involvement by the government.The quality
of life for psychiatric patients should not be measured in terms of Ringgit
and Sens only. If the government can have naltrexone in Pusat Serentis,
why not Risperidone or Fluvoxamine in Bahagia and Permai and other hospitals
on a regular basis? Now perhaps PERSIKOL can step in to help. We have actively
involved ourselves in getting the best deal for USM patients to buy several
drugs for psychiatry at the cheapest price in the country inspite of opposition
from certain quarters which are sadly only profit orientated and not care
motivated and pahala acquisition.