diff --git a/Modules/_curses_panel.c b/Modules/_curses_panel.c
index f95392f9c33..57368681484 100644
--- a/Modules/_curses_panel.c
+++ b/Modules/_curses_panel.c
@@ -191,7 +191,7 @@ PyCursesPanel_Dealloc(PyCursesPanelObject *po)
     (void)del_panel(po->pan);
     Py_DECREF(po->wo);
     remove_lop(po);
-    PyMem_DEL(po);
+    PyObject_DEL(po);
 }
 
 /* panel_above(NULL) returns the bottom panel in the stack. To get