The Ministry of Health has threatened to release cured mental health patients from forensic wards.
The Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, has called for an immediate intervention to release the large number of people who have been sent to various mental health facilities for treatment and care by the courts.
"Most of these people are fully cured of their ailment but continue to live at the facilities," he said. We feed them, and they take over the places, and it appears that hospitals are being used as an extension of prisons, which should not be the case."
For example, the Health Minister stated that 100 of the approximately 150 patients currently admitted to the Accra Psychiatric Hospital Forensic ward were referred from the courts.
Because the courts had failed to pursue their cases over the years, the Ministry had no choice but to discharge these people and send them home, adding that their continued stay in the facilities was a heavy burden on the health institutions' already limited resources.
Mr Agyeman-Manu stated that the Ministry would write Memos to the Ministry of Interior, the Attorney-General, the Ghana Police, and the Prisons Services, requesting that these people be taken into custody within the next month; otherwise, the Ministry would be forced to release them and send them home.
Mr. Agyeman-Manu made the call in Accra during the inauguration of Ghana's Mental Health Authority's 11-member Governing Board (MHA).
Mrs Estelle Matilda Appiah, the President's nominee, would chair the Board, which would include Prof. Akwesi Owusu Osei, Chief Executive Officer of the Mental Health Authority, Mr Kwesi Assan-Brew, Ministry of Interior, Dr Anthony Adofo Ofosu, Ghana Health Service, and Mrs Evelyn Daawee-Keelson, Attorney-Office. General's
Mr Emmanuel Owusu-Ansah, Mrs Janet Naa Karley Amagatcher, and Prof. Angela Ofori-Atta were all Minister's nominees, with representatives from the Ministries of Health, Social Welfare, and Tertiary Medical Training Institution also approved as members.
Mr Agyeman-Manu led the Members in taking the Oaths of Office and Secrecy and thanked them for volunteering to serve the nation.
He charged the Board with increasing advocacy and funding to improve Ghanaians' mental health status.
He, on the other hand, lamented the fact that the separation of institutions that were previously under the Ministry but were now independent had created a large funding gap between those whose activities could generate revenue internally to support their operations and those that did not, leaving orphans of the underprivileged, such as the Mental Health Authority.
The Minister of Health stated that the government was committed to improving mental health care through initiatives such as "Agenda 111," increasing funding in the area, and enrolling mental health in the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
He also stated that the Ministry was working to establish mental health facilities in the country's Northern, Southern, and Middle Zones to supplement the existing ones.
Mr Agyeman-Manu stated that Ghana now has about 50 Psychiatrists, compared to a few in previous years, and that the Ministry hoped to distribute them evenly soon to advance mental healthcare in the country.
Prof. Akwesi Osei expressed regret that the Mental Health Levy had yet to be implemented ten years after the passage of the Mental Health Act 846 in 2012. He added that "the law runs on the establishment of the mental health levy, and until we get that, we won't have the full benefit of it."
He went on to say that the levy would provide the necessary funding for the full implementation and effective operation of the sector.
Prof. Osei urged corporate institutions and the general public to help the Authority fulfill its mandate of promoting the rights of people suffering from mental illnesses and providing them with the necessary quality treatment and care.
Mrs. Appiah stated that the Board would evaluate the Mental Health Act and advocate for the necessary changes to allow it to achieve its goal.
She stated that the Act review would also result in policies to increase funding and other resources to prevent brain drain of mental health professionals, as well as to ensure the protection of people with mental health challenges' fundamental human rights.
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