In the Valley of depression, the best kept secret is a blue

“Depressive disorders are very common here,” said Dr Mushtaq Margoob, a noted Kashmiri psychiatrist, who estimated that at least 80 per cent of all patients visiting doctors here suffer from depressive disorders. “Sleep, appetite, sexual activities and desires get directly affected in depressive disorders.”

He said that although he hasn’t often prescribed Viagra, many patients come to him with problems of impotence. “I had been giving injections which immediately induce erection, so the patient feels psychologically relieved,” he said. “But unless the underlying depression is treated, the problem does not end.”

Some chemists here, who admitted selling the imported drug clandestinely, said many young men seeking it out have suffered torture at the hands of the security forces and lose their ability to perform sexually as a result.

“A majority of the men coming to buy the pill had been given electric shocks in the penis or hit in their genitals during interrogations by police and the security forces. And now they feel it has adversely affected their sexual potency,” said a leading chemist here. He asked not to be identified, partly for security reasons and partly because it is illegal to sell Viagra here.

Those who purchase the drug also do it very secretly. “They don’t even ask for it, if only one customer is inside the shop. They come when we are about to pull up the shutters or wait till they get privacy,” said the chemist. “They feel humiliated in public and we understand that.”

One militant commander of Al-Jihad outfit, from Kupwara town, was arrested in 1994 and tortured for information. According to the man, who sought anonymity, a needle was inserted into his penis and electric shock was applied. He was released from prison but cancelled his plans to marry because he was sexually impotent. He is still taking medicine for the problem.

A dermatologist who treats sex-related problems also said there are “hundreds of cases in which a patient came with a complaint of being given electric shocks in the genitals in the security force custody.” Often, he said, “it is not the electric shock but its psychological fallout which causes impotence. So I prescribe Viagra, which causes immediate erection and helps ease fears of being rendered impotent for life. At times, after a few tablets, the patient feels his vigour restored, as it is much more psychological than physical.”

According to doctors and chemists here, a few drug wholesalers buy Viagra from Delhi and distribute it among retailers across the Valley. One chemist claimed to have sold the pills to retailers in almost all Valley districts. “It is expensive, which is why people don’t take it just for pleasure here,” he said. “It is Rs 550 per tablet, but those with problems are ready to buy it, come what may.”

Dr S R Gupta, Joint Drug Controller, India, said the sale of this imported drug is illegal because the Government has not permitted its marketing. G M Bhat, the J-K drug controller, said it was illegal to market Viagra in the state, but he said he knew nothing about it being prescribed or sold in the valley clandestinely.

Many doctors here feel the drug is being misused by “fake” medical practitioners or even general physicians, who are not trained to treat sexual disorders. “I have prescribed Viagra capsules to only three patients during the past several months,” said Dr Qazi Masood, a sex and skin specialist. “Scores of patients with psychosomatic sexual problems, ill-sustained erection, premature ejaculation or lack of erection do come for treatment, but I don’t prescribe Viagra to all,” he said, adding the drug has a specific and limited role. “More than 90 per cent of the people practising as sex-specialists in the Valley are not even trained doctors,” he complained. “They just exploit the capability of this medicine to provide immediate, though temporary, results and mint money from desperate patients,” he said.