Mental health care, responsibility of all

It is never an easy feeling or situation when a member of the family or community is identified to have one form of mental disorder or another.

The statistics are very scary, but instead of motivating us to fight the problem, the subject of mental health remains a taboo in most homes and communities.

This situation often makes some families abandon their mentally challenged relatives on the streets or treatment centres. What is even more worrying is the inadequate resources provided for the country’s psychiatric facilities to care for such patients.

That is why, marking Mental Health Day yesterday, should alert us on the need to raise awareness and help address the problems associated with mental healthcare delivery in the country. (See story on pages 24 and 25.)

Almost all the psychiatric hospitals have to depend on donor support to enable them to provide for the needs of their patients, especially the inmates.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that about 650,000 people in Ghana are suffering from severe mental health disorder, while 2,166,000 are suffering from moderate-to-mild mental disorder.

Currently, there are about 16 psychiatrists in the country, representing a psychiatrist-patient ratio of 1:1.5 million.

It, therefore, goes without saying that the mental health sector is confronted with many challenges, including the low number of mental health facilities, lack of funding, inadequate professional health staff, social exclusion and the abuse of the rights of people with mental health conditions.

It is on this basis that the Daily Graphic wishes to rally Ghanaians to help not only deal with the stigma associated with mental health but also mobilise the requisite resources to cater for mental health patients.

We know that as part of comprehensive efforts to improve access to mental healthcare services, all district hospitals now provide mental health services, with more than 5,000 health workers trained on how to provide those services.

As the British High Commissioner to Ghana, Mr Iain Walker, said in an op-ed in the October 10, 2019 edition of the Daily Graphic: “Whether it is family, friends, neighbours or colleagues, the chances are that we all know someone who is affected.”

Ghanaians, therefore, have a duty to be supportive of and sympathetic to the depressed, vulnerable and destitute in society in order to prevent them from developing mental conditions.

The Daily Graphic further calls on families and institutions, including the political elite, to intensify efforts at providing safety nets for the vulnerable and less-privileged in our society. They should also provide access to quality mental health services in our country.

We must all join the campaign to make the provision of quality mental healthcare possible to make Ghana a better place to live.

Together, we can build a society or environment where people can receive assistance to prevent a situation where some of us would even go to the extent of taking their lives

Let us work together to tackle the problem of inadequate investment in the mental health sector and also remove the stigma associated with the condition.