At first, Yasmin* had to come twice a week to Government Multi Super Specialty Hospital, Omandurar Estate, for her multiple sclerosis injections. But she could only make it weekly. Then, she was asked to come twice a month. Three injections later, she was told to come twice a week again. The 25-year-old from Coimbatore, who has two children, struggles to meet the cost of travel and manage her constant ill-health.
“Over the past year they have changed the brand of my injection three times. Every time we travel, my husband has to miss out on work and we have to leave our children behind,” she said. A number of multiple sclerosis patients at the hospital, all of whom receive free injections under the Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme, have said that changes in their injections and consequently the frequency of their doses are causing them difficulties.
Petition to govt.
Suguna* from Pollachi has petitioned the government to make the injections available at district headquarters hospitals so that patients did not have to travel so far. However, she right now travels with her elderly parents, who find it very difficult. “I have now been asked to come three times a week and I can’t manage it,” she said. The patients also have mobility issues and struggle at railway stations , finding it difficult to walk and travel.
For 16-year-old Mahira*, constant travel between Tiruchi and Chennai has meant dropping out of school.
According to Suresh Kumar, consultant neurologist, Fortis Malar Hospital, multiple sclerosis is a demyelinating disease of the central nervous system that can have a variety of manifestations, including acute vision loss, weakness of the limbs, bladder dysfunction and difficulty in walking. It can be a single attack, recurring attacks or the condition can be progressive.
“The hospital was initially providing an injection that could be taken once a week. Now it provides the injections twice or thrice a week, depending on the patient,” said Ann Gonsalvez, chairperson, Multiple Sclerosis Society, Chennai Chapter.
Dr. Suresh Kumar explained that while all the drugs prescribed acted in the same way, the frequency of dosage changed depending on the drug. “Frequency can be once a month, twice, four times, 12 times or daily,” he said.
*Names changed
