By Gifty Xornam Adonoo
Executive Secretary of Mind Freedom Ghana, an NGO in mental health, Mr. Dan Taylor, has lamented about the inadequate and expensive psychotropic medications in the country.
“By policy, mental healthcare is supposed to be free to persons with mental health conditions, when these people go to hospitals, they are supposed to get medications for free but they don’t. Some of them are able to get the medications at the hospital facilities, some of them would have to go out and when they go out of the facilities to buy the medications, the costs are just too much. So quite a good number of people are not able to afford these medications and for that reason, they relax in their conditions.”
Psychotropic medications are used to manage and treat the symptoms of depression, and mental disorders, reduce disability and prevent relapse.
The provision of psychotropic medications is an important element of delivering quality, appropriate, and accessible healthcare for mental health conditions in the country.
Speaking in an interview with GBCNEWS, Mr. Taylor, urged government to show commitment in making these medications available.
“So, we are asking the government to supplement these psychotropic medications and make sure that they are available as much as possible because without these medications for the persons with mental health conditions to administer or take, their conditions get worse.”
Mr. Taylor also lamented about how difficult it is to get sources to fund mental healthcare in the country. He further urged the government to place mental healthcare services under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). This, he said, will help go a long way to address mental healthcare issues in the country.
“Talking about the Mental Health Fund, which has been established under the Mental Health Law, 2012 Act 846, the Fund has been established alright but as of now, the sources of funding have become the bane for which reasons, the monies are not going into the funds to be able to use them”
“Somewhere last year, the current Chief Executive of the National Health Insurance Authority, Dr. Bernard Okoe Boye, proposed that the NHIA should consider bringing mental healthcare services into the NHIS but as of now, I don’t think anything concrete has been done towards that proposal.
A lot will depend on what the Minister of Health will bring forward so that the NHIS law can be amended to enable mental healthcare issues to be brought on board.”
Touching on persons with severe mental health conditions roaming in public places, a few of whom sometimes become a danger to themselves and members of the public, Mr. Taylor, referred to Section 73 of the Mental Health Law which enjoins the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to make budgetary allocations so that such persons are taken to the hospitals by the Police for treatment. The MMDAs are then required to be responsible for bearing the cost of their treatment and rehabilitation.
Unfortunately, the MMDAs are not fulfilling this mandate albeit, Mental Health Authority and CSOs such as MIND Freedon had on several occasions drawn their attention to this under the law. He, therefore, called on the Local Government Ministry and government for that matter, to compel the MMDAs to do the needful in this matter.
Mr. Taylor told GBC News that as of December last year, Mind Freedom had established and inaugurated Community Support Networks in six Regions who had received funding totalling over GHC19m to implement a number of activities geared towards improving access to mental healthcare and other advocacy interventions.
The Networks, which are in the Ashanti, Greater-Accra, Ahafo, Eastern, Northern and Upper East Regions were supported with funding from the National Democratic Institute of the United States.
Composition of the Networks are persons with mental health conditions and their caregivers, mental health staff, social welfare staff, Assembly Members, religious and traditional leaders.