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| Kwaku Agyeman Manu, Health Minister |
The Ministry of Health has been implored to make available medications
of persons with mental illness and epilepsy (PWMIE) in order to preempt any
form of relapse of the health of those who are still undergoing treatment in
various hospitals across the Northern Region.
According to the
Executive Director of Gub-Katimali Society (GKS), Sheik Yakubu Abdul-Karim, the
irregular supply and periodic shortage of medications meant for PWMIE is
inimical to the promotion of sound mental health among Ghanaians.
Addressing chiefs, queen
mothers, Assembly members and other opinion leaders in the Zabzugu and
Tatale-Sanguli Districts of the Northern Region, Sheik Abdul-Karim, urged them
to join the advocacy in promoting quality mental health in the country.
He commended Bole, East
Gonja, Kumbungu, Karaga, Zabzugu, Bunkpurugu-Yunyoo, West Gonja and Nanumba
South District Assemblies for their continuous support to PWMIE and urged the
other districts to support vulnerable persons such as PWMIE.
“These districts have
been giving money to PWMIE in their communities to buy their medications
anytime they run short and medications from central government are not made
available on time. GKS and our partners BasicNeeds-Ghana also do supply them
with medications”, he said.
The workshop was
organised as part of the implementation of a 5-year (2013 – 2018) DFID/USAID
mental health and development project in all 26 Metropolitan, Municipal and
District Assemblies (MMDAs) in the Northern Region.
The project is aimed at
supporting the government of Ghana to build a national mental health system
that effectively and efficiently responds to the mental health needs of
Ghanaians. This will reduce the wide mental health treatment gap currently existing
in Ghana and enable men, women, girls and boys with neuropsychiatric conditions
to live and work successfully in their communities.
The project also seeks to increase capacity of
Ghana's Mental Health Authority to effectively and efficiently run community
based mental health services; and support 100,000 male and female adults as
well as children with mental health needs to access quality mental health
services within the proximity of their communities.
Furthermore, the project is to ensure an organised and active mental
health service user and care-giver movements get involve in mental health
service and policy advocacy in Ghana; and reduce social stigma and
discrimination towards PWMIE.
Since 2013, over 11 thousand PWMIE, caregivers of PWMIE, staff of MMDAs,
journalists, leadership of Trade Unions, traditional leaders as well as health
personnel have benefited in various ways from the DFID/USAID sponsored project
which is due to phase out next year.
A
Public Education and Investigative Officer at the Commission on Human Rights
and Administrative Justice CHRAJ) in the Northern Region Inusah Iddrisu, also cautioned
the general public to respect the civil liberties and human rights of PWMIE.
According to Mr. Iddrisu, any
citizen of Ghana who suffers from any form of mental illness still has their
basic human rights and freedoms intact for them to enjoy. “Such rights must be
respected by their families, health personnel, employers and other members of
the public as stated by the country’s Constitution”, he stressed.
He noted
that, it is a crime to beat, torture, rape and deny PWMIE treatment or sack
them from their places of work. “The security agencies particularly the police should
not delay in seeking justice for such vulnerable people when issues concerning
their health and welfare come to their notice”.
Gub-Katimali Society (GKS) is
a non-profit-making nongovernmental organization based in Tamale in the
Northern Region. It is committed to bringing change and improvement in the
lives of the vulnerable and downtrodden.
GKS also seeks to sensitise,
empower and enable local communities to realize their own development through
collective participation, partnership and pooling of resources together for
sustainable development.
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