Mental health patients are having to pay for costly psychiatric drugs, 10 months after the government promised they would be free, according to the Mental Health Association.
In last October’s budget speech, the government said it would provide new psychiatric medicine through the government formulary as part of its mental health strategy.
However, the Mental Health Association says the new drugs are still not available to patients, even though it has been informed that some medicines have been approved for listing.
The association has written to Health Minister Chris Fearne to highlight the issue.
“Apparently, in spite of the requisite technical approvals by the Department of Psychiatry and the Government Formulary List Advisory Committee, new psychiatric drugs are still not available to patients,” the letter reads.
“This situation is imposing an enormous financial and poor quality of life burden on patients and their carers.”
For carers, the lack of easy and free access to these drugs is compounded by the problem of prescribed drugs being discontinued without warning by importers.
One man, who cares for a relative with schizophrenia, said he pays about €220 a month for medicine. The man gets €100 in support from the Malta Community Chest Fund.
To manage his condition, his relative must take four pills a day – one Aripiprazole and three Olanzapine.
Aripiprazole is not on the formulary, despite being approved. Olanzapine is on the formulary but the type procured by the government is not as effective as Zyprexa, that was previously imported, the relative claims.
He said the importer had stopped supplying Zyprexa because of the impact of the UK leaving the EU, which is causing shortages of some popular medicines.
“Quoting the Brexit excuse, the pharmaceutical agent importing Zyprexa informed me that they had to stop the importation of Zyprexa with immediate effect,” the man said.
The constant shift of brands was harmful for patients and stressful for carers, he said.
“Prescribing medication is one thing, assuring this medication is taken properly by the patient is another. That responsibility normally falls flat on the carer… My pharmacist explained that different brands, even of the same active ingredient, may have different effects to the patient. Therefore, it is possible that deterioration of a patient may be due to change of brands.
“Moreover, futile as it may seem, little do consultants, pharmacists and people in general realise how a paranoid person may interpret and react to a change in the shape, colour and size of a pill he/she takes every day.
"Multiply that by two or three other pills which change brand and format practically with every eight-week supply and you have the recipe of needless multiple sleepless nights after what would classify as a good day for a mentally sick person and his/her carer,” he said.