Health expert calls for reorientation of health professionals on mental health

Health policy analyst, Dr Sodzi Sodzi-Tettey, wants the Ghana Health Service to reorient the training of health professionals in the country on mental health.

That, he explained, would help ease the pressure on the few mental health practitioners, and also serve as a back-up in emergency cases.

Commenting on the current crisis at the Accra Psychiatric Hospital that has led to a strike by the nurses, Dr Sodzi-Tettey underscored the need for all health professionals to be reoriented on mental health.

“If the mentally ill patients should attend regular clinics, they will not have access to their required services. This is because other health practitioners may not have the training in mental health” he observed.

Speaking on 3FM’s health programme, Positive Pulse, he said: “there are just a few number of mental health practitioners. We will need to re-orient the training of Health professionals”.

He said the number of mental health practitioners for the country is in short supply.

Nurses of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital have since Monday embarked on an indefinite strike as a result of government’s failure to provide them with basic logistics and critical medical supplies required for the running of the facility.

The strike has prompted health authorities at the Hospital to initiate a mass discharge of patients on admission at the facility.

A total of 200 patients are expected to be repatriated to their various homes.