COMMUNITY PSYCHIARY UNIT FOR WA REGIONAL HOSPITAL (PAGE 30)

THE role of the public and communities are very crucial in the rehabilitation of mentally ill patients, the National Co-ordinator for Community Psychiatry, Madam Amina Bukari, has stated.
She said rehabilitation of mentally ill patients was the responsibility of all but the manner in which those patients were handled determined whether the efforts would yield the desired results or otherwise.
“Rehabilitating mentally ill patients is our duty as a people but the way we treat them is not the best. We must, therefore, change our attitude towards mentally ill patients so that we reap the required results,” she stressed.
Madam Bukari, who was speaking at the inauguration of a GH¢474,000 community psychiatry unit for the Upper West Regional Hospital in Wa, advised people to show more love to mentally ill patients by feeding and clothing them.
She said since psychiatry had no respect for personalities, “we must at least visit a psychiatrist once in a year to ascertain the state of our mental health”.
Madam Bukari further urged people not to continuously harbour things in their minds and they must also eat balanced diets and drink more water.
She gave the assurance that six psychiatry nurses would be posted to Wa to man the facility.
The Upper West Regional Minister, Mr Mahmud Khalid, who performed the inaugural ceremony, said the facility would provide access for mental health care in the region.
He said the government was committed to the training of more mental health nurses and the upgrading of existing mental health care facilities.
Mr Khalid stressed the need for the government to provide the necessary incentives to entice more students to be trained in mental health.
The Regional Director of Health Services, Dr Alexis Nang-Beifubah, expressed concern about stigmatisation of mental patients and even personnel who handled mentally ill patients.
He commended Basic Needs, a non-governmental organisation, the financiers of the project.
Dr Nang-Beifubah appealed for more human resources and logistics to enhance mental health care delivery in the region.