Narration: The Board of the Ghana Health
Authority had officially sworn in a 7–member Regional Mental Health
Subcommittee to oversee to the coordination of mental health activities in the
Upper East Region.
This brings to eight, the number of Mental Health
Subcommittees established across the country as stipulated in the Mental Health
Act.
The inauguration of the subcommittee which has Retired Psychiatrist, Sobsar Taawele as its
chairman, will be responsible for the promotion of mental health and ensure
that persons with mental illness receive quality care without being
stigmatized, abused, discriminated or subjected to public ridicule.
Delivering
the inaugural address, a chief Psychiatrist and the acting CEO of the Mental
Health Authority, Dr Akwasi Osei, urged the subcommittee members to build
synergies with relevant stakeholders including traditional and faith based
healers and offer them training on how to handle clients with mental disorders
without any form of abuse.
Here is a report by Isaac Asare for Radio Ghana.
Report
The overall objective of the project which is being replicated in other administrative regions of the country is to identify people with mental disability and give them the necessary assistance to stabilize their condition.
Under the project, those that were kept under treatment and were able to come out of their predicaments have been made to reintegrate with their families.
The effective implementation of the project will ensure that in future, people with mental disorders will not be found roaming on the streets of Bolgatanga and beyond.
However, the inauguration of the mental health subcommittees was a step in the right direction as they were going to contribute towards achieving the set objective.
The core duty of the Regional Health Sub-committee is to advise and support the Regional Mental Health Coordinator to implement mental health plans and policies for quality mental care.
The subcommittee will among other responsibilities exercise functions in accordance with the Mental Health Act, Act 846, of 2012.
Key among them is to ensure the availability of psychotropic medicines, reduce the inhumane treatment meted out to patients with mental and substance abuse disorders.
Ensure the rights and dignity of mental health patients and above all conscientize the public against stigma and physical abuse against people with mental illness.
The committee will also implement at the regional level, mental health policies developed by the mental health board.
In a speech read for him, the Regional Director of Health, Dr John Koku Awoonor-Williams, observed that lack of knowledge and understanding on mental health issues has led to stigma and abuse against the mentally ill especially in prayer camps and traditional healing centres.
Dr Awoonor-Williams therefore called for concerted effort by stakeholders to help champion the cause of mental health delivery in the region.
He called for attitudinal change towards people with mental illness in all forms.
Swearing in members of the Committee, a former Chief Psychiatrist and Chairman of the Mental Health Authority, Professor Joseph Badiako Asare acknowledged the effort of the region in the area of awareness creation.
He however encouraged the subcommittee to be proactive in their dealings and come out with innovations that will propel their activities for the benefit of the region.
He further challenged them to demystify the art of psychiatric practice to a level that would be understood by all enhanced advocacy and awareness creation.
In response, the Chairman of the subcommittee and a retired psychiatrist, Sobsar Taawele, thanked the board for the confidence repose in them and pledged to exercise their respective roles diligently.
The 11-member subcommittee were later sworn into office by Prof Badiako Asare. The committee is composed of five men and two women.
Speaking to Radio Ghana after the induction ceremony, the CEO of the Mental Health Authority, Dr Akwesi Osei, condemned the ill treatment meted out to mental health patients especially at traditional and faith-based camps for treatment, but was hopeful that under the mental health law, there was room for change.
GBC
NEWS END IA/
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