Kathmandu, Sept. 10 -- Mental health specialists have said the coronavirus pandemic has discontinued the care and treatment of many patients, as the country has been under a lockdown and other restrictions since March 24.

Patients living in small towns and villages have been particularly hit hard, because for many of them their regular therapy sessions and medicines have stopped with the restrictions put in place to control the virus spread.

Doctors at Nepal Mental Hospital in Lalitpur say unlike the patients of other diseases, people suffering from mental illness cannot buy medicines from pharmacies without prescriptions.

Discontinuation of medication or counselling could cause a patient's condition to deteriorate, say the doctors.

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