Four professional organizations in the field of psychiatry and mental health request the Ministry of Health, the National Agency of Medicines and Medical Devices in Romania and the National House of Health Insurance to adopt coordinated measures to ensure the availability of psychiatric drugs, given that patients are experiencing increasing difficulties in procuring prescribed treatments.
The appeal is signed by the Association of Outpatient Psychiatry, the Romanian Association of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, the Association of Public Psychiatric Hospitals and the Society of Child and Adolescent Neurology and Psychiatry from Romania, reports Agerpres.
According to the representatives of the four organizations, patients with mental illnesses and their families are forced to look for the prescribed medicines in numerous community pharmacies, without receiving clear information about when supplies will resume. In some situations, treatments can no longer be found, and patients’ drug supplies run out.
The organizations warn that the involuntary interruption of treatment can have serious consequences, from the reappearance or worsening of symptoms and the loss of the achieved stability to the appearance of the withdrawal syndrome and, in certain cases, the need for hospitalization.
Also, replacing one drug with another is not always a solution, as psychiatric treatment is individualized, and any change must be decided following a medical evaluation and accompanied by patient monitoring.
“The signatory associations of this document request the Ministry of Health, ANMDMR and CNAS for coordinated measures to restore supply and prevent these shortages, as well as updated information on resupply deadlines and concrete solutions for access to treatment,” the appeal states.
