Mental patients, care-givers sensitised on Act

Mental health patients and care-givers from three districts in the Northern Region have attended a sensitisation workshop to build their capacity on provisions in the Mental Health Act.

The objective was to enable the participants to learn about their rights and responsibilities under the Mental Health Act as well as where and how to access vital health care services.

It was organised at Walewale on Tuesday by Gub-Katimali Society (GKS), a Tamale-based social advocacy non-governmental organization, for the participants drawn from the Bunkpurugu Yunyoo, East Mamprusi and West Mamprusi districts.

Mr Inusah Iddrisu, Investigator and Public Education Officer at the Northern Region Office of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, urged all not to abuse mental health patients.

In a presentation on the Mental Health Act, he said it was assented to by the President in May 2012, the reason to educate the public on its provisions to keep them abreast of the law to guide effective health service delivery to mental health patients.

Statistics from the office of the Northern Regional Psychiatric Nurse showed that mental health cases had been rising steadily in the region jumping from 4082 in 2012 to 4641 in 2013.

Mr Iddrisu said there was the need for all to appreciate that mental health patients were vulnerable and, therefore, must be supported instead of stigmatising, chaining and beating them.

He said such inhumane acts perpetrated against mental health patients were frowned upon by the Constitution and urged all to stop them.

Mr Sheikh Yakubu Abdul-Kareem, Executive Director of GKS, said his institution, amongst other interventions, had been assisting mental health patients to lead meaningful lives in their communities.