Accra Psychiatric Hospital may soon shut down due to lack of funds, Chief Executive Mental Officer of the Mental Health Authority, Dr. Akwasi Osei, has cautioned.
The limited inflow of income from stakeholders, according Dr. Osei, was hindering the facility from rendering services effectively.
The hospital almost shutdown a few months ago due to a four-million Ghana cedi debt owed its suppliers.
The previous government only paid five hundred thousand cedis, and provided some supplies to the facility at the time, but this could not mitigate the challenge.
Dr. Osei said a meeting with the health minister to find resolutions to the challenge did not yield results as the ministry has given several promises but had not taken any action yet.
“We have met with the minister on several occasions but they just say they want to help, but we want them to move beyond simply wanting to help to actually help,” Dr. Osei requested.
Dr. Osei also called for the passage of the Legislative Instrument (LI) on the Mental Health Act, 2012 (846).
Per the Act, persons with mental illness will have separate wards at health facilities.
Most of these facilities are expected to have the required infrastructure, but that is not the case due to delays in the passage of the LI.
The Act also makes provision for the Mental Health Authority (MHA) to ensure that actual financial allocations are made into the Mental Health Fund.
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