WORD about Agnes (not her real name), a 24-year-old lady I had never met, got to me one evening after I had returned home from work. My younger brother, who works in the community Agnes lived in told me about how he responded to a call from Agnes who called from the window of an uncompleted building only for him to find out that the lady had been chained to a bed post. She therefore could not move.
"Teacher come and see, my people say I am not well and because of that they have chained me. I cannot move that is why I had to call you", said Agnes and then she continued with other sentences which were not easy to comprehend.
Agnes, according to my brother was a practising hairdresser and a mother of a six-year-old girl. He described her as an easy-going and an affable young lady who was nice to people in the community.
When I got to where she had been chained, I saw Agnes in a depressed state as she sat on a bed whose post she had been tied to. She could not move around and had to respond to nature's call right where she sat. It was the same place she ate and slept.
Agnes had been isolated in an uncompleted structure which formed part of the family house while part was occupied by her daughter who lived with her grandmother (Agnes' mother ), an auntie and an uncle.
When I heard about Agnes' predicament, my human instinct together with my little knowledge about the vulnerability of mental patients, pressed me to do something to save her from imminent harm. To me, she could be at the mercy of flies, mosquitoes, rapists and even murderers.
What I heard from the Chief Psychiatrist, Dr Akwasi Osei, when I called him to advise me as to what could be done about a situation of that nature, made my heart jump.
As he tried to explain things to me, I realised that though I wish to help Agnes, it might not be possible. The reason being that I could not send her to the hospital without permission from her family and if they refuse, there was nothing I could do.
“Does that mean that I cannot do anything if the family does not believe in seeking orthodox treatment for Agnes but preferred other methods which might not help her?”. I asked Dr Osei and he confirmed my fears by saying yes.
He went further to say that as things stood now, there was no law to protect people with mental health and for that reason, such people were always at the mercy of family members.
I realised that the life of a human being whose condition did not allow her to seek help for herself was in danger. Frantically, I started making calls to Agnes’ junior sister whose number I got from my brother. After a couple of hours of “negotiations”, a key to the chain which tied Agnes to the bed was finally found. Around mid-day, Agnes was brought to my workplace in a hired taxi. She is now at the Accra Psychiatric Hospital receiving treatment.
Although I have, on a number of occasions, attended programmes on mental health, especially those held by the Accra Psychiatric Hospital and a non-governmental organisation (NGO), BasicNeeds, to deliberate on the Mental Health Bill, my experience with Agnes had strengthened my resolve to join advocates in support of the passage of the bill into law as soon as possible.
The new Mental Health Bill , as it stands now, seeks to improve the care of the mentally ill in the country. It will also address human right abuses suffered by those who have mentally ill patients under their care.
The bill addresses decentralisation of mental health care at the community, spiritual and traditional setting and also allow supervision and revision of mental health care practices.
On the number of occasions that I have listened to Dr Osei, he had repeated that between 30 to 40 per cent of the population of a country suffered from various forms of mental illness, a situation Ghana could not run away from.
Dr Osei explained that people tended to ignore issues of mental health because they always associated it with those who suffered the severest form of the illness and ignored the commonest ones like depression and dementia ( disorder impairing a person’s capacity to function normally and safely), which affect many people.
“Mental disorders such as depression and dementia which occur in old age are common illnesses which can affect anybody,” he stressed.
At a recent advocacy training programme for journalists in Accra , Dr Osei reiterated an earlier call on people in position to effect changes in mental health care to do so since the general public stands to gain when there are better services.
That, according to the Chief Psychiatrist, was necessary since mental health was no respector of persons, but could affect any one at a point in his or her lifetime.
That, to him is the reason why Ghana needs better laws to regulate mental health care. When the new Mental Health Bill is passed, Ghana will have Mental Health Authority under a Mental Health Service which would be separate from the Ghana Health Service (GHS) and therefore, ensure that adequate logistics are provided for better health services; there would be a Mental Health Review Tribunal to rule on abuse of rights of mental patients; there will be Visiting Committees to ensure the right things are being done for mental patients as well as availability of Voluntary Treatment and Involuntary Treatment to take care of people like Agnes.
Other conditions under the bill are rights of persons with mental disorder; protection of vulnerable groups who suffer from mental illness and any other condition which the law would prescribe.
Unlike other existing laws on mental health care, the new law will provide for adequate human rights provision, basic human rights, incapacity and human rights, standard of treatment, seclusion and restraint, complaints and treatment management, confidentiality, privacy and autonomy and well as access to information and employment rights.
The bill was sent to the Ministry of Health as back as 2006. It is now left for the draft bill to be sent to Cabinet and then to Parliament for consideration.
Until that is done, people like Agnes will continue to be left at the mercy of ignorant family members who would not know that mental patients should not be chained to bed posts but should be sent to hospitals for proper treatment and cure.
WORD about Agnes (not her real name), a 24-year-old lady I had never met, got to me one evening after I had returned home from work. My younger brother, who works in the community Agnes lived in told me about how he responded to a call from Agnes who called from the window of an uncompleted building only for him to find out that the lady had been chained to a bed post. She therefore could not move.
"Teacher come and see, my people say I am not well and because of that they have chained me. I cannot move that is why I had to call you", said Agnes and then she continued with other sentences which were not easy to comprehend.
Agnes, according to my brother was a practising hairdresser and a mother of a six-year-old girl. He described her as an easy-going and an affable young lady who was nice to people in the community.
When I got to where she had been chained, I saw Agnes in a depressed state as she sat on a bed whose post she had been tied to. She could not move around and had to respond to nature's call right where she sat. It was the same place she ate and slept.
Agnes had been isolated in an uncompleted structure which formed part of the family house while part was occupied by her daughter who lived with her grandmother (Agnes' mother ), an auntie and an uncle.
When I heard about Agnes' predicament, my human instinct together with my little knowledge about the vulnerability of mental patients, pressed me to do something to save her from imminent harm. To me, she could be at the mercy of flies, mosquitoes, rapists and even murderers.
What I heard from the Chief Psychiatrist, Dr Akwasi Osei, when I called him to advise me as to what could be done about a situation of that nature, made my heart jump.
As he tried to explain things to me, I realised that though I wish to help Agnes, it might not be possible. The reason being that I could not send her to the hospital without permission from her family and if they refuse, there was nothing I could do.
“Does that mean that I cannot do anything if the family does not believe in seeking orthodox treatment for Agnes but preferred other methods which might not help her?”. I asked Dr Osei and he confirmed my fears by saying yes.
He went further to say that as things stood now, there was no law to protect people with mental health and for that reason, such people were always at the mercy of family members.
I realised that the life of a human being whose condition did not allow her to seek help for herself was in danger. Frantically, I started making calls to Agnes’ junior sister whose number I got from my brother. After a couple of hours of “negotiations”, a key to the chain which tied Agnes to the bed was finally found. Around mid-day, Agnes was brought to my workplace in a hired taxi. She is now at the Accra Psychiatric Hospital receiving treatment.
Although I have, on a number of occasions, attended programmes on mental health, especially those held by the Accra Psychiatric Hospital and a non-governmental organisation (NGO), BasicNeeds, to deliberate on the Mental Health Bill, my experience with Agnes had strengthened my resolve to join advocates in support of the passage of the bill into law as soon as possible.
The new Mental Health Bill , as it stands now, seeks to improve the care of the mentally ill in the country. It will also address human right abuses suffered by those who have mentally ill patients under their care.
The bill addresses decentralisation of mental health care at the community, spiritual and traditional setting and also allow supervision and revision of mental health care practices.
On the number of occasions that I have listened to Dr Osei, he had repeated that between 30 to 40 per cent of the population of a country suffered from various forms of mental illness, a situation Ghana could not run away from.
Dr Osei explained that people tended to ignore issues of mental health because they always associated it with those who suffered the severest form of the illness and ignored the commonest ones like depression and dementia ( disorder impairing a person’s capacity to function normally and safely), which affect many people.
“Mental disorders such as depression and dementia which occur in old age are common illnesses which can affect anybody,” he stressed.
At a recent advocacy training programme for journalists in Accra , Dr Osei reiterated an earlier call on people in position to effect changes in mental health care to do so since the general public stands to gain when there are better services.
That, according to the Chief Psychiatrist, was necessary since mental health was no respector of persons, but could affect any one at a point in his or her lifetime.
That, to him is the reason why Ghana needs better laws to regulate mental health care. When the new Mental Health Bill is passed, Ghana will have Mental Health Authority under a Mental Health Service which would be separate from the Ghana Health Service (GHS) and therefore, ensure that adequate logistics are provided for better health services; there would be a Mental Health Review Tribunal to rule on abuse of rights of mental patients; there will be Visiting Committees to ensure the right things are being done for mental patients as well as availability of Voluntary Treatment and Involuntary Treatment to take care of people like Agnes.
Other conditions under the bill are rights of persons with mental disorder; protection of vulnerable groups who suffer from mental illness and any other condition which the law would prescribe.
Unlike other existing laws on mental health care, the new law will provide for adequate human rights provision, basic human rights, incapacity and human rights, standard of treatment, seclusion and restraint, complaints and treatment management, confidentiality, privacy and autonomy and well as access to information and employment rights.
The bill was sent to the Ministry of Health as back as 2006. It is now left for the draft bill to be sent to Cabinet and then to Parliament for consideration.
Until that is done, people like Agnes will continue to be left at the mercy of ignorant family members who would not know that mental patients should not be chained to bed posts but should be sent to hospitals for proper treatment and cure.
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