We shall prioritise mental health care – CPP
The Convention Peoples Party (CPP) says it will ensure strict implementation of the Mental Health Act 2012 (Act 846).
The CPP captured this in its 2016 Election Manifesto that promised to implement the Policy by working with local and international partners to galvanise support.
The Party said it would encourage the training of more psychiatric specialists (doctors and nurses), train more psychologists and allied professionals to specialise in mental health care and ensure the mainstreaming of mental healthcare in hospitals.
“We will move the Accra Psychiatric Hospital to Pantang and develop the Pantang Mental Hospital into a first class mental health facility and we will build two additional psychiatric hospitals in Ashanti and the Northern Regions.”
The manifesto available to GNA in Accra says Ghana continues to be affected by the double burden of communicable and non-communicable disease, due to this, CPP will establish a National Infectious Disease Centre, step up campaigns and undertake activities to improve personal hygiene and sanitation to deal with communicable diseases.
“We shall also vigorously create national awareness on the need to combat lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and stroke,” CPP stated.
The Party says, in addition to Physical Education Exercises in schools: “We shall promote the establishment of Community Residence Health Teams to encourage regular communal physical exercise, regular drills in Basic Life Support and Health Talks, with the view to inculcating healthy lifestyles in the citizenry”.
The publication of the manifesto is captured under the “GNA Tracks Election 2016 Project”, being funded by GOIL, the foremost indigenous oil marketing company and CIMG 2015 Petroleum Company of the year.
The project seeks to sensitise the electorate on the various issues raised by political parties, the elections management body and other governance institutions.
It aims at ensuring gender and social inclusion in national politics and to provide voice for the youth, vulnerable groups, opinion leaders and the broader spectrum of the society.
Another objective of the project is to create a platform to dissect the manifestoes of all political parties and provide in-depth analysis of each thematic area to the electorate to enable them to make an informed judgment.
Source: GNA