A retired major general is among 1,000 British service personnel requiring psychiatric treatment after taking an anti-malarial drug issued by the Ministry of Defence. New figures released by the MoD show that since 2008, 994 personnel have been treated for mental health issues after having been prescribed Lariam. Despite Lariam - the brand name for the drug mefloquine - being banned by the U.S. military due to concerns over side effects, the MoD has ignored appeals to stop prescribing it in what critics say is an escalating 'scandal'. Major-General Alastair Duncan (pictured) is currently in a psychiatric unit after having been given the drug prior to a deployment in Sierra Leone . According to The Independent's Jonathan Owen, retired Major General Alastair Duncan is currently in a psychiatric unit following a Post Traumatic Stress Disorder episode four months ago. Maj-Gen Duncan was given the drug Lariam before a deployment to Sierra Leone. His wife Ellen told the paper: 'If 1,000 troops have reported the effects then you can be sure there are others who have not. I know personally of several and anecdotally of many more. The long-term effects of this will be more and more in evidence over the coming years.' Mrs Duncan's comments follow those from string of former military servicemen who have hit out at the MoD over its continuing use of Lariam. General Lord Dannatt told the paper it was 'extraordinary' the MoD continued to prescribe Lariam given the weight of evidence about its side effects, and urged it to use other anti-malaria medicines. Lariam's use by the U.S. military has also been closely scrutinized. The drug has been heavily discredited by the country's medicine watchdog. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration warns Lariam can cause serious mental health issues and should not be taken by anyone suffering from depression. These include anxiety, seizures, paranoia, hallucinations, and depression. In 2013, the organisation gave it a 'boxed warning' - the most serious of its kind - due to the neurological and psychiatric side effects associated with it. It stated: 'Neurologic side effects can occur at any time during drug use, and can last for months to years after the drug is stopped or can be permanent.' It went on to state that such symptoms interfered with patients' daily activities and ability to work, and in some cases were noticed after having taken only one or two doses. The U.S. military banned Lariam after it was linked to the case of Robert Bales, a soldier who massacred 16 Afghan civilians. Mefloquin is used to treat malaria and was developed by Army researchers towards the end of the Vietnam War. It gained support among the fighting forces because it works in areas where mosquitoes developed resistance to an earlier treatment, chloroquine, and requires just one tablet a week, not the daily dose needed with other medications. Side effects include seizures, depression, hallucinations, violent behaviour, feeling that others want to harm you, thoughts of hurting or killing yourself and many others. Almost four decades after inventing it, the U.S. Army pushed it to the back of its medicine cabinet. The about-face followed years of complaints and concerns that mefloquine caused psychiatric and physical side effects. In recent years, the Army slashed by almost 75 per cent the amount of mefloquine it prescribes, even as it sent thousands more soldiers to malaria-prone Afghanistan. Soldiers who had suffered from traumatic brain injuries were particularly advised against using it. 'Mefloquine is a zombie drug. It's dangerous, and it should have been killed off years ago,' said Dr. Remington Nevin, an epidemiologist and Army major who has published research that he said showed the drug can be potentially toxic to the brain.
Almost 1,000 personnel required psychiatric treatment after taking drug . They were prescribed anti-malarial drug Lariam by the Ministry of Defence . The product's side effects include psychosis and hallucinations . Retired Major General Alastair Duncan is currently in a psychiatric unit . He was prescribed the drug prior to a deployment in Sierra Leone .