Veep pledges support for the passage of Mental Health Bill

Accra, June 15, GNA - Vice President John Dramani Mahama has pledged t= o support the early passage of the Mental Health Bill and also to help to promote mental health awareness in the country. "This is to ensure the provision of safe and effective mental health care in Ghana," he added.

"The Mental Health Bill is currently before Parliament, and Vice President Mahama promises to dialogue with the leadership of Parliament and Ministry of Health about any bottlenecks that presently exist to facilitate early passage," a statement issued by the Office of the Vice President in Accra said on Wednesday.

Speaking during an interaction with the Faculty, Resource Persons and Ghanaian participants in the Yale University's Global Health Leadership Institute (GHLI), Vice President Mahama acknowledged that in many countries including Ghana, there had been neglect of mental health. "Often, we have concentrated on some areas of health like tuberculos= is, HIV, Malaria, which have received lots of attention. Mental health is one o= f the areas we have neglected for too long," he added. Vice President Mahama pointed out that the low awareness of Mental Health and the stigma associated with it required strong governmental support to change.

He said President John Evans Atta Mills had already demonstrated that support when he visited the Accra Psychiatric Hospital recently and government had also started facility expansion works at the Ankaful Psychiatric Hospital. Ghana has three public psychiatric hospitals with only 12 psychiatrics and no occupational therapist. It is estimated that Ghana has a psychiatric treatment gap of 98 per cent, mental health currently takes only 3.6 per cent of the overall health budget.

Ghana was among five countries that participated in the Yale GHIL 2011 programme. Ghanaian participants were Dr Frank Nyonator, Director of Policy Planning, Ministry of Health, Dr Akwasi Osei, Chief Psychiatrist of Ghana, Dr Angela Ofori-Atta, a Professor of Clinical Psychology, Joseph Akati Saaka, Member of Parliament for Bole Bamboi and Member of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Health, Mr Emmanuel Owusu-Ansah, Head of Policy Analysis, Ministry of Health and Mr Rojo Mettle-Nunoo, Deputy Health Minister.