The Opposition is urging the government to take immediate action and ensure that medicine used to treat anxiety is made available at the hospital’s pharmacy.

Spokesman Claudio Grech told the newspaper that the medicine, known as Buspirone, has been out of stock for some two weeks.

In a statement, Mr Grech said that patients who were prescribed this medicine, aimed at treating anxiety and its several physical and mental impacts, acquired it against payment from the Mater Dei pharmacy.

Buspirone is a controlled medicine that cannot be bought from private pharmacies. Mr Grech said the government should provide this medicine without delay as patients who needed it could suffer from serious consequences and might have to be admitted to hospital.

This medicine’s shortage, he said, was creating more problems for these patients when its main aim was to control anxiety and its effects.

The Nationalist Party would support any action taken by the government to provide this medicine as these patients had the right to access it especially since they were paying for it themselves.