Lack of Mental Health Board affecting operations – Council
Government’s failure to constitute a Mental Health Board is undermining successful implementation of the Mental Health Act, the Accra Regional Mental Health Alliance and the Mental Health Leadership and Advocacy Programme (mhLAP) Stakeholder Council have said.
The Groups have, therefore, called on government to demonstrate commitment to mental health delivery by establishing a board to formulate guidelines for realisation of the goals of the Mental Health Act.
The two groups also said the situation was seriously affecting their operations of guaranteeing better mental health service delivery and protecting members’ fundamental human rights.
“The appointment of the governing body will be a step to implementing the Act which ultimately will push for the establishment of basic structures for effective commencement of the Act,” the groups said in a statement signed by Mr Humphrey Kofie of the Mental Health Society of Ghana and copied to the Ghana News Agency on Wednesday.
The statement noted that since the passage of the Mental Health Act no clear steps had been taken to action provisions in the Act, though it was assumed to be in full operation.
The statement said while the Act seeks to revamp mental health service delivery in Ghana and also align national strategies to international best practices, the state of mental health delivery is as bad today as it was before these legal frameworks.
It said some provisions do not have clear operational guidelines and penal measures, and that would have to be regulated through a Legislative Instrument (LI) under the mandate of a Board.
It said the establishment of a board would facilitate the creation of other structures in the Mental Health Authority and drafting of an LI among other functions to give clear operational guidelines for implementing provisions in the Act.
The statement said functions of such a board must be unambiguous to users who had been subjects of discrimination, pervasive human rights abuses and negative communal attitudes.
It noted that the operationalization of the Mental Health Authority largely depended on a board that would facilitate the establishment of a “Mental Health Fund” to mitigate financial challenges confronting mental health institutions.
Source: GNA