The Kerala High Court on Wednesday directed the State government and Directorate of Health Service to ensure that the shortage of essential medicines at the mental health centres in the state as well as the district mental health programme centre in Thiruvananthapuram was solved immediately.
Justice Thottathil B. Radhakrishnan issued the directive in a suo motu case initiated on the basis of a complaint regarding the shortage of essential medicine at the MHC, Thiruvananthapuram. The chairman of the monitoring committee of the mental health centre reported that there was an acute shortage of the drug, sodium valporate, an essential medicine for all mental patients. The report also pointed out that the medicine was prescribed for nearly 80 per cent of the patients including outpatients.
The supply of other drugs like ‘resperidone’ and ‘Parkin’ were in short supply. The Kerala Medical Corporation supplied these drugs to the centre. The corporation assured the Superintendent of the Centre that full supply of medicines would be restored by March.
