The Mental Health Authority has said it will prosecute any organisation or entity, which is still involved in the inhumane chaining of mental health patients.<\/p>\n
According to the authority, with the promulgation of the Mental Health Act 2012, such practices are deemed as illegal hence their warning.<\/p>\n
In Ghana, faith-based healing centres and prayer camps are the first point of call by relations of mental health patients.<\/p>\n
Some spiritual homes and herbal centres are known to be engaged in the act of chaining patients believed to be suffering from mental disorders when treating them.<\/p>\n
This, the Chief Executive Officer of the Mental Health Authority, Dr Akwasi Osei said is an infringement of their human rights, hence the call on them to seize forthwith or be made to face the law.<\/p>\n
“We are really bent on ensuring that by the end of the year, nobody in Ghana, mentally ill will be in chains or shackles and we have started the process. We have released 17 people from prayer camps in the Central Region. Beyond that we have been to two other camps to make sure that nobody is in chains and we are extending this process nationwide. We have our regional coordinators in various regions and they have started going round and sensitizing various organisations,” Dr Osei said.<\/p>\n
Aside these challenges, there are other problems that are hindering the Mental Health Authority from delivering on its mandate<\/p>\n
In 2016, the Accra Psychiatric Hospital shut down its Out-Patient Department, turning away patients due to the lack of basic supplies.<\/p>\n
Dr Akwasi Osei had described the situation as worrying. He said the various Psychiatric Hospitals in the country are \u201cseriously handicapped.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Ministry [of Finance] has to simply release money for us to run the service. That notwithstanding, the Board has also been in discussion with the Ministry and the Board is going to convene another emergency meeting on this situation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u2018Accra Psychiatric Hospital OPD shuts down\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n In the same year, the hospital shut down its OPD over lack of some working basic items including A4 sheets to record health information.<\/p>\n A member of the Hospital\u2019s Public Relations Unit, Edwina Ankomah, lamented said the hospital is in dire need of basic things like \u201cgloves, disinfectants and stationery and paper.\u201d<\/p>\n Persons who visited the Accra Psychiatric Hospital on Wednesday, were turned away, and the hospital\u2019s administrators have said they were compelled to take such a decision due to worsening financial constraints.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n By: Marian Ansah\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Mental Health Authority has said it will prosecute any organisation or entity, which is still involved in the inhumane chaining of mental health patients. According to the authority, with the promulgation of the Mental Health Act 2012, such practices are deemed as illegal hence their warning. In Ghana, faith-based healing centres and prayer camps […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[19],"tags":[18,3,734],"yoast_head":"\n