Chaining mental patients wrong – Dr. Akwasi Osei

The Chief Executive Officer of the Mental Health Authority, Dr Akwasi Osei has revealed that it is against the fundamental human rights of persons with mental problems to be shackled by persons running prayer camps and other religious bodies in the country.

According to him, the Mental Health Act passed in 2012 frowns upon such treatment meted out to those persons and so the authority will start taking steps to deal with such prayers camps.

Speaking in an interview with Chief Jerry Forson, host of Ghana Yensom, on Accra100.5FM on Monday July 3, Dr Osei noted that most of these prayer camps chain persons with mental conditions and only take them off after, according to them, God has instructed that the patient has been spiritually healed. However, he said the practice was against Ghana’s law.

“Chaining them is against their fundamental human rights, it is against the Mental Health Act,” he said. “Most of these prayer camps claim they are waiting on their God to give them the go-ahead before releasing them, but that is wrong from the viewpoint of the law.

“We understand some of them have started releasing them; that is good, we will continue with the education and let them know that what they are doing is wrong.”