Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many armed forces personnel have been prescribed Lariam or Mefloquine in each year since 2000; how many such soldiers have reported (a) hallucinations, (b) psychosis and (c) suicidal thoughts; and if he will make a statement.

The table shows the number of personnel prescribed Mefloquine between 2007 and 30 June 2014 and how many were subsequently seen for an initial assessment at a Ministry of Defence (MOD) Department for Community Mental Health (DCMH) or admission to a MOD in-patient provider for a mental health disorder.

Of those in the second column, seven had an initial assessment of Psychosis/Bipolar Affective Disorder.

Like-for-like data before 2007 is not available. To provide numbers of personnel reporting with symptoms of hallucinations or suicidal thoughts would require the retrieval and review of individual patient records, which could be achieved only at disproportionate cost.

The data on prescriptions for Mefloquine used in this response were derived from the integrated primary health record within the Defence Medical Information Capability Program data warehouse. It is not possible from this data to identify whether a mental health episode is associated with being prescribed Mefloquine.