Ministry Of Social Affairs Strives To Give Long Acting Drugs For ODGJ In East Sumba NTT

Minister of Social Affairs Tri Rismaharini. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Social Affairs (Kemensos) seeks a long-term antipsychotic injection (ALAI) therapy method for patients with mental disorders (ODGJ) in East Sumba Regency, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT). Minister of Social Affairs (Mensos) Tri Rismaharini explained that this therapy is the most effective method for ODGJ patients in the region considering the distance from the patient's house to the nearest posyandu or puskesmas as well as the difficulty of accessing transportation so that it does not allow patients to routinely redeem drugs every week. "So I will ask for help from the puskesmas to be handled by means of long-acting so that once a month he is injected then he will only return again for 1 month, because if his treatment is definitely heavy every day," explained Risma in East Sumba Regency, NTT Province, quoted from Antara, Saturday, May 4. In addition to drugs being quickly depleted and having to visit health centers or posyandu, he assesses that the daily administration of drugs for ODGJ patients clearly burdens the accompanying and caring families because it requires discipline and accuracy to provide drugs.

Not infrequently, many family members forget the schedule for taking medication from ODGJ patients, causing a relapse for patients who even worsen the treatment process.

"But now there is a new way, a new method where he only needs once a month. So later after that I will discuss with the Regent and these doctors how all puskesmas in East Sumba Regency can handle long-acting or handling that every month, not every day like that," he explained.

He also said that he had communicated with the Minister of Health (Menkes) Budi Gunadi Sadikin regarding the provision of long-term anti-psychotic therapy methods for ODGJ patients in East Sumba Regency. "Incidentally, last night I was able to contact the Minister of Health, I would be assisted for long-acting ones, because they are indeed far away. And they also have their family usually run out of time for routine life. Therefore, it is one solution for long-acting, especially for ODGJ," he said.