The Chief Psychiatrist of Accra mental hospital, Dr. Akwasi Osei has
urged Ghanaian citizens to give mental and physical illness with equal treatment in the society.
This, could go a long way to make the mentally
sick patients feel accepted in their community.
Speaking at the World Mental Day under the theme ‘mental health and chronic physical
illness; the need for continued and integrated care’ said that this year’s theme addresses the minds that mental illness and physical
illness are two entities.
He
suggested that in every hospital, especially the big ones like the teaching hospitals, regional hospitals, and eventually the district hospitals there
should be a psychiatric wing to treat mental disorders so that mental health service will spread all over the country an people will not travel from a
long distance to Accra, Ankaful, or Pantang for their mental health needs.
Dr. Osei emphasized on the need to pass the mental health bill with
urgency so that the traditional and faith-based healers would no longer put people in chains but have enough education and training for healers to
recognize their limits.
The Hon. Deputy Minister of health .Robert Joseph Mettle-Nunoo said that mental illness is gaining such proportion that
if care is not taken now, it will impose severe burdens on the economy in the near future and even people around the country are experiencing the high
mental health problems.
According to the minister this year’s world mental day theme fits into the ministry of health own agenda of
trying to integrate mental health care into the general health care system, since the policy is based on the philosophy that many mental illness do
not need asylums for treatment.
He said ‘the Ministry of Health is in full agreement with the need to subject the whole process to some
urgency’, adding that mental health is one of the important programmes in the health sector.
He disclosed that there is an on-going
program at Kintampo rural health training school to train medical assistants specifically in psychiatry in order to assist the few
psychiatrists.
The Hon. Minister urged all to learn to stay with people living with mental illness since it is treatable and debunked the many
perceptions that mental illness has something to do with witchcraft and the evil spirit that can infect closed ones.
Story: Evans
Okai & Joyce Quaye (Reporters, Health Digest News)
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