Medication Nation

MANAGUA, Nicaragua – Nicaragua’s National Psychiatric Hospital houses about 140 patients. But with little financial help from the government, it lacks the resources to help them.

The World Health Organization has warned that the global financial crisis could worsen the situation for patients there, as well as in other mental hospitals in poor countries.

For now, private companies and good Samaritans have been donating food and helping the patients, some of whom have been housed there for 30 years, said Dr. Maria Esther Paiz, the hospital’s assistant director.

They depend on the hospital for complete support because their families have abandoned them, she added.

A church helped renovate the wing for elderly patients, which used to flood every rainy season.

Director Dr. Roberto Aguilar says the hospital, founded in 1936, needs new cars to transport those patients who are allowed to visit relatives. But limited government resources go to medical hospitals that need advanced equipment rather than to mental-health care.

“Other hospitals and clinics around the country are getting new equipment and are being renovated,” Aguilar said. “Here all we have to work with is our minds.”