Stakeholders in Mental Health are worried that Mental Healthcare in Northern Ghana could continue to deteriorate because of government’s lack of political and financial commitment to the sector. Speaking with A1 Radio in Wa after the reading of the 2022 Budget Statement and Economic Policy, Programmes Officer with the Centre for People’s Right and Empowerment Initiative (CPRI) Dominic Wunigura noted that government had not dedicated any funds to develop Mental Healthcare in the northern half of the country.
Mr. Wunigura mentioned that in the 2021 Budget Statement and Economic Policy, government allocated funds to build two Psychiatric Hospitals in Northern Ghana. He said the projects could not see the light of the day. Meanwhile, his expectation that funds will be once again allocated to building the facilities in the budget for the 2022 fiscal year did not happen.
Mr. Wunigura explained that this suggests government’s lack of interest in the area. “In this budget of 2022, there was absolutely nothing, at least to reflect what was in the previous budget,” he lamented.
The Programmes Officer with CPRI suggested that government had not realized the return on investment in the area of mental health. “Government has not taken its time to assess the impact of the investment in the area of mental health. Government should henceforth focus on community-based mental health,” he explained.
It will be recalled that the Centre for People’s Right Empowerment Initiative (CPRI), a non-governmental organisation based in the Upper West Region called on the government to increase funds allocated to the Mental Health Authority and other agencies working within the same sector. CPRI said the increase in funding will aid in the comprehensive treatment of persons living with mental health conditions.
CPRI said successive governments had failed to commit enough funds to help in the procurement of drugs to treat prevalent mental health conditions in the country.
The result, the Organisation said, is about 7 percent loss in productivity across the country. This was ahead of the reading of the 2022 Budget Statement and Economic Policy, on the 17th of November 2021, a Programme Officer with CPRI, Dominic Wunigura drew the attention of government to the importance of increasing funding to the sector.
A1Radioonline.com|101.1MHz| Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
