Public Agenda (Accra)
Basiru Adam
11 April 2008
Accra — A study has observed that medicines used in treating mental disorders in the country are too old and are causing serious side effects to patients.
This is happening despite the availability of new and more effective drugs on the market like Olanzapine and Sodium Valproate.
BasicNeeds, an international NGO, conducted the study between May and August 2007, and several stakeholders in mental health backed the claim when it was made public at a workshop in Accra.
The Deputy Chief Pharmacist at the Accra Psychiatric Hospital, Chief Cokar Asaam, said psychiatry in Ghana "seems to be locked up in the past, due to the use of outmoded medicines. "Our doctors end up treating the side effects of drugs they themselves have given out."
Some of the old ones still in use are Chlorpromazine, Phenobabitone and Carbomaxipine.
Carbomaxipine for instance, which is used in the treatment of epilepsy among others, is said to have been discovered in 1953; and yet it is highly used and relatively costly in the country.
Chief Cokar attributes the high cost to the fact that Psychotropic drugs are supposed to be given out by government free of charge. As such, pharmaceutical companies do not risk importing such medicines. Many people however do not get access to the drugs due to government's inability to meet demand. The few private companies that import them therefore tend to inflate the prizes.
Taking the argument a notch higher, the Medical Director of Pantang Psychiatric Hospital, Anna Dzadey said while there are not enough doctors in the medical sub-sector; some of the available few seem to be afraid of the new drugs. "We are not treating patients; we are only giving out the drugs. You need to have additional experience", she emphasized.
That additional experience is what seems to be lacking although the experts are careful not to step on toes. One participant said administering drugs is a process and that the doctor has to monitor the patient in a hospital situation to assess the full impact of the medicine. As such, it is only a matter of time before psychiatric doctors become acquainted with new drugs.
Until that happens though, majority of the 16,691 people suffering from various mental health problems, which BasicNeeds says it has identified, will continue to be administered the old ones with their attendant side effects.
The study by BasicNeeds Ghana further established that psychotropic drugs are short in supply by 40% in the country and the reasons cited include increasing demand due to increased awareness, high cost of the drugs and inaccurate forecasting.
In addition, the procurement procedure takes about two years due to the controlled nature of psychotropic drugs. Some of those that are considered as narcotics are subjected to country quotas by international bodies like the World Health Organisation.
In view of the challenges, a communiqué was adopted at the end of discussions, which communiqué entreated government to expedite action on the passage of the Mental Health Bill into law as well as update the Mental Health Policy.
It further urged government to boost stocks of psychotropic drugs to match demand and especially update the Essential Medicines List. In that regard, it said a special fund must be created.
Another recommendation contained in the communiqué is for government to lobby for increased quotas on controlled drugs for Ghana.
The Country Programme Manager of BasicNeeds, Peter Yaro, said Ghana cannot ignore the fact that presently 450 million people worldwide are suffering from one mental disorder or the other. More so since those in developing countries do not get the required quality services they need.
"By our association too, we have come to know that it is possible for things to improve, the resources are there to make things become better than they presently are, if we cannot get the best."
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Public Agenda. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
