Mental health authorities in the Brong Ahafo Region have expressed worry over the rising number of mental health patients roaming the streets in the region, especially its capital.

Over 600 mental patients are said to be on streets of the region. The figure has gone up from the initial four hundred recorded last year.

Speaking to Class News’ Brong Ahafo regional correspondent Claude Kumi Abisa, the Regional Coordinator of Mental Health, Joseph Yare said alcohol, cannabis abuse and marital problems are the causes of the disease in the region.

“…It is the duty of local government to give budgetary allocation to persons with mental conditions in their communities. The MP, Chief Executive and the Assembly members, it is their duty to support mental health in the Brong Ahafo region to treat these persons and integrate them into their communities”, he stated.

“If you look at Brong Ahafo in 2015, we did a count of persons with mental disorder in public places and we got 400 and on the 12 of May this year, Mental Health Authority also ordered that all regions should count persons with mental disorders in public places so that they can also have rough statistics on that and make provisions for their treatment, so when we counted in Brong Ahafo, we got 627 persons with mental disorders walking in public places and now out of the 627 persons, we have 400 plus being males and less than 200 being females and three below 14 years”, Mr Yare said.

“So we have submitted this to the Mental Health Authority and we are waiting for them to also support us to ensure that these persons with mental disorder will be treated”, he added.

“The major cause of this mental condition in Brong Ahafo is sometimes attributed to the weed or cannabis and sometimes this alcoholic beverage they call ‘laka’ that is weed and Akpeteshie. They mix them and people take it and feel elated, so they are the two major causes of the mental conditions for the males. And the females, it is partly also on marital issues,” the regional Coordinator of Mental Health said.

He advised the youth to desist from substances that will lead them to mental condition.

“Everybody should assess himself or herself, their stress threshold. If you know that you are the type that your stress threshold cannot withstand certain issues, you shouldn’t involve yourself and speak your mind. Don’t gamble with your life so that one day you will have a mental condition. The young guys who smoke, especially on Fridays where they meet at joints to enjoy themselves, should also be careful because mental conditions have no respect for anybody”.