We don’t release mentally ill persons on the street – Ankaful Psychiatric Hospital

Management of the Ankaful Psychiatric Hospital in Cape Coast in the Central Region has vehemently refuted allegations that the staff of the hospital dump mentally ill patients on the streets at night.

The number of mentally ill persons is increasing by the day in parts of the Central Region and has taken over the streets and markets putting the lives of residents in danger as some wield offensive weapons.

They have become a nuisance and a threat to market women in various market centres at Mankessim, Nyankomasi Ahenkro, Winneba, Cape Coast, Ajumako, Agona Swedru, Kasoa, Assin Fosu, Apam, Twifu Praso Dunkwa On-Offin, Breman Asikuma, Saltpond among others.

Through their activities, they sometimes attempt to harm market women and residents going about their legitimate duties.

Kasapa FM’s Central Regional Correspondent, Yaw Boagyan who has taken the initiative to call the attention of the relevant authorities to deal with the worrying situation interviewed some of the residents and market women who accused the Ankaful Psychiatric Hospital of being partly responsible for the situation.

A resident of Mankessim alleged that the hospital staff released mentally ill patients in their care onto the streets in the night to prevent their alleged action from being noticed by the residents.

"The mentally ill persons who are roaming our markets are coming from Ankaful Hospital because this place is not far from the hospital. I was once sleeping in a car at night in Mankessim when I saw the hospital staff come with their vehicle and drop the mentally ill patients on the streets. They were moving around and dropping them in twos. They dropped two in Mankessim and two in Ekumfi Akwakrom……What I am learning is that most of the patients are not able to pay for the medical bills and so they are dumped on the streets.

But reacting to the allegation, the Deputy Director of Administration, Ankaful Psychiatric Hospital, Thomas Chireh Kuusanno flatly denied the claims urging the public to take it with a pinch of salt.

He rather blamed the issue on the many prayer camps dotted around that take care of mentally challenged people.

"This matter came up two years ago. It is never true, we don’t release people onto the streets. They should be checking the prayer camps around and not the hospital. Why will the hospital release a mentally ill person onto the streets for what? The focus should be on the prayer camps which are keeping mentally ill people.

"These people are not our clients, they are in the communities. Wherever they are coming from, we don’t know. All the people we have here are with us, nobody has gone out.”

Thomas Chireh Kuusanno added that mentally ill people in the public space are the responsibility of the various assemblies to handle.

"We don’t go onto the streets and pick people. That’s not what we do here. we are here to treat. Whoever is brought, we give you our conditions and if you read them and you are okay, then we handle them and treat them, that’s what we do. And if we are discharging our patients, we have what we call reintegration or repatriation. We will carry the person in our car to the home of the person if it is traceable and hand over to the family. We don’t discharge people onto the streets. There are people who have been with us from the 80s and 90s because we can’t trace the family.”