A day after psychiatric patient Christopher Wolfe complained that he could not get drugs at the San Fernando outpatient pharmacy, chief executive officer of the South West Regional Health Authority, Gail Miller-Meade, assured that there is no shortage of psychiatric drugs.
Wolfe, who suffers from mental illness, said his supply of Tegretol 200 g, CPZ 75, Skolozeine and Arlone drugs could not be sourced at the pharmacy because they were unavailable. Saying he needed the medication so that he would not “trip off,” Wolfe said he was scared that police could attack him if he had a mental breakdown.
“This is scary for me because we had so many cases where the police killed mentally unstable people,” Wolfe said.
“I have a boxing gym and once I take my medicine I am alright. When the hospital doesn’t have the medication, it is dangerous for us,” Wolfe added.
However, contacted yesterday, Miller-Meade said checks with the pharmacy showed that the prescribed psychiatric drugs were available at the SFGH outpatient pharmacy.
Saying the medication could be sourced at any other pharmacy as they fell the Chronic Disease Assistance Programme (CDAP) programme, Miller-Meade explained, “We do not purchase drugs as we get this from central stores (C40). If the medication has to be changed this should be done by the doctor.”
A source at central stores (C40) said that there were no shortage of psychiatric drugs.
“All of the medication named were also available at the St Anns Psychiatric Unit,” the source added.
Meanwhile, in a statement on Monday, the Ministry of Health also said it was evaluating the system of drugs procurement so that there could be a continued supply of CDAP drugs to patients.