The Chief Psychiatrist of the Mental Health Authority, Dr.\u00a0Kwasi Osei, has called for the enforcement of laws that prevent supposed healing centres from chaining psychiatric patients in their care.<\/p>\n
Speaking at the launch of the 2017 mental health week at the International Press Centre in Accra, Dr. Osei called for more stringent measures to ensure that the rights of mental patients are protected.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”eieNtamIhON6RoWwhBoXYfqspVZIhIa4″]\u201cWe want to take advantage of this day and say that our human rights abuses of the mentally ill should stop. In the law, Mental Health Act 20 (846) of 2012, it is clearly spelt out that if you by your act of commission or omission, you neglect or abuse the rights of the mentally ill, that is punishable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can take you to court and the court will fine you not less than Ghc6,000,\u00a0or put you in prison for two years or both.\u201d<\/p>\n
Referencing a study in 2009 which revealed that about 41% Ghanaians suffer from psychological distress, Dr. Osei called for more attention to be given to mental issues in the country.<\/p>\n
Dr. Osei\u00a0revealed that the impact mental health had on economic productivity of the country, adding that an economy could not grow without a stable mental workforce.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf the study that shows 41% of Ghanaians having physiological distress, researchers computed what that means in terms of productivity, and they realized that it meant 7% of our GDP lost by virtue of people’s distress or physiological illnesses for which they cannot go to work, and they absent themselves or they go to work but they can\u2019t function properly.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou cannot build the economy without creating wealth, and you cannot create wealth without health, and you cannot have health without mental health, so mental health means total health.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd it\u2019s only when you have your total health that you can be productive and grow your economy.\u201d Dr Osei added.<\/p>\n
The week-long celebration under the theme \u201cmental health at the work place\u201d, is meant to create awareness creation about mental health, and been supported by the Ministry of Health.<\/p>\n
An acceptance speech from the chairperson, Kojo Addae Mensah, Group Chief Executive at Databank, lamented the deplorable state of mental health in Ghana, and urged the media to act as advocates to curb the trend.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important that the media take up mental health and advocate for it seriously. Already our general health system in the country is not the best, but I can assure if you go out and look at the state of the mental health in Ghana, it is in a deplorable state, if you ask me.\u2019\u2019 he stated.<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
By: Ann-Shirley Ziwu\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Chief Psychiatrist of the Mental Health Authority, Dr.\u00a0Kwasi Osei, has called for the enforcement of laws that prevent supposed healing centres from chaining psychiatric patients in their care. Speaking at the launch of the 2017 mental health week at the International Press Centre in Accra, Dr. Osei called for more stringent measures to ensure […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[19],"tags":[733,3,734],"yoast_head":"\n