DILI, 06 october 2022 (TATOLI) – Director of the Autonomous Service for drugs and Medical Devices (SAMES), Saturnina Ximenes, said, SAMES has reserved five types of drugs for the treatment of mental-health-related illnesses.
The drugs are risperidone, trifluoperazine, fluoxetine, chlorpromazine, and carbamazepine.
The issue follows the concerns of psychiatrist Edmundo Monteiro who was motivated by the lack of drugs for the treatment of mental illness at the National Hospital Guido Valadares Dili (NHGV)
Meanwhile, Ximenes acknowledged that previously the NHGV had submitted a request for the distribution of drugs, saying the team has distributed the drugs based on the request of NHCV.
“We just received the five types of durgs last week, and the team from SAMES are doing the inspection and rechecking the drugs before distribution, and distribution will be based on the lists of requests,” Saturnidna Ximenes told Tatoli, in Campo Alor, Dili.
According to Ximenes, SAMES reserved 1,503 rispiradone tablets, 500,000 chlopromazine tablets, 16,000 fluoxetine, 36,000 carbamazepine tablets, and 36,000 trifluoperazine tablets.
She explained that SAMES consistently responds to urgent requests, but currently SAMES is facing some medicine shortages.
“We have distributed two types of fluoxetine and chlorpromazine to Covalima health center yesterday because it was an emergency request,” he added.
Nelson Correia, The Director of Procurement in SAMES, also said that the Government has allocated US$250,000 this year to boost 21 types of drugs for mental health care, while a total of $180,000 were used for the procurement of 13 types of drugs.
“We opened a public tender for the process of drug supply, and SAMES employed four companies, two were foreign companies: one from Portugal and the other from the Netherlands. So there were already 13 types of medicine we have, and five types had already arrived. The rest will constantly arrive in November,” he concluded.
Journalist: Isaura Lemos de Deus
Editor: Maria Auxiliadora
Translation: Camilo de Sousa
