Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by abnormal behavior, the patient is unable to distinguish reality and enters a state of audio and visual hallucinations that isolates him largely from the community.
In order to treat this mental disorder, patients are forced to take anti-psychotic drugs, Clozapine is the one of the most famous drug to treat this condition, it allows the patients to return to their natural state to some extent. However, if patients suddenly stop taking their medications, they will be exposed to several side effects, the most important is a threat to themselves or others.
About 468 cases are registered in the Gaza Strip. Currently, this drug is not available in the Ministry of Health stores. While patients suffering greatly from medication withdrawal side effects, they have to be admitted to the psychiatric hospitals again for monitoring and treatment.
In a meeting with the Director General of Mental Health Dr. Yahya Khadr, he said: “The Ministry of Health needs about 30 thousand pills of Clozapine per month to contain the current crisis.
It is worth mentioning that schizophrenic patients are not the only ones suffering from lack of medicine, but other patients with chronic diseases such as diabetic, hypertensive, and cardiac patients have similar problems and all of them are in a dire need to get their treatment at once.