Despite assurances by government that it will settle its debt owed the Accra Psychiatric Hospital, Citi News checks indicate the facility has still not received the monies.
The development is worsening the plight of patients there, as hospital authorities depend solely on corporate organisations to feed the over five hundred patients it houses.
Outside the Special Ward of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital in Accra, there are beds, mats and mattresses because there is no space at the various wards. On the metallic beds, towels and other belongings of the patients hang.It’s a hot afternoon; yet, some of them lie in bed, fast asleep.
The nurse in charge at this facility, Robert Gyedu-Amakye, explained that the hospital has not seen any major renovation since it was put up in 1906.
“There has been no major renovation, we are still maintaining these structures.”
The Accra Psychiatric Hospital is one of three major health centres in the country for mental health patients.
The interior of the wards look like a prison cell, because this 110 year old facility was originally built to house hardened criminals with mental health issues.
About four to six patients squeeze themselves into a 10 by 12 cubicle with three single beds, while the rest spread their plastic mats on the floor.
“Our bed capacity is fifty eight so it means the rest of them are sleeping on the mat. Not even a mat with a mattress on it so the only difference is that you don’t sleep on the bare-floor.”
Outside the wards, the remaining patients sleep in the open – some, camped under a shed. It doesn’t necessarily protect them from the harsh weather conditions and the constant battle against mosquitoes and malaria.
Staff of the hospital’s special ward also share the same space with the patients under the shed. Here, close to twenty of the staff members are seated across a long desk to attend to the patients.
The bathrooms appear to sum up the situation here. There are gaping holes in the roof. The cracked white wall tiles have all turned brown and the nasty and dirty floors will make you feel even dirtier after bathing in there. As if battling with the inadequate amenities is not enough, they deal with more dangerous situations on daily basis. Drugs nearing their expiration dates.
According to the nurse in charge at the special ward, Robert Gyadu, the drugs administered here have December 2016 as the expiry date.
The treatment and recovery process for the patients indeed goes beyond just the drugs.
The Occupational Therapy Department was designed as part of the facility, to get patients to learn various skills including carpentry, painting and bead work among others, to challenge their minds. But this department has turned into a white elephant.
The hospital’s kitchen is in a poor state and lacks a proper storage facility. Some of the stoves have leakages which pose a threat to the staff.
In the baking room, an old flour mixer looks like a death trap. Workers here say many have their hands trapped during black outs. Staff here buy their own kitchen knives and napkins among others.
Authorities here say, the government has not only abandoned the facility, but is also hugely indebted to it. Dr. Pinaman Appau is the Director of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital.
“We got two tranches of money but it came with the instruction that we pay suppliers so we’ve not received monies to run the hospital. We owe them over the years. We still have some debt from 2013 even though we’ve paid some. Currently, we owe four million Ghana cedis”
The hospital has been hit by food shortages in the past few weeks, and Dr. Appau said but for the benevolence of corporate organisations and some individuals, the hospital would have run into trouble feeding the over five hundred patients.
She strongly rejected accusations that they confiscate the donated items for their personal use. She says until the debt is paid, they have to anticipate facing challenges with shortage in food supplies and disposables.
At the beginning of August, the facility stopped admitting patients because of the many challenges. Emmanuel Febiri, a psychiatric nurse and a member of the hospital’s communication team, explained that the lack of funding accounted for their decision.
“ For some time now, the hospital has been challenged in terms of funding. Mostly our source of funding depends on the subvention from the government of Ghana. There is no money there is no food. In a day you need about ten Ghana cedis to spend on a patient and we have close to five hundred patients. For now management has decided they are not going to take any admissions”.
Hospital authorities are desperate. And all this is happening at a time the country has passed the Mental Health Act.
Although the Act provides relief for the mental health sector, this remains only on paper.
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By: Zoe Abu-Baidoo/citifmonline.com/Ghana