The families of some seventy rehabilitated mental health patients cannot be traced, according to authorities of the Pantang Psychiatric Hospital.

The hospital is grappling with having to keep rehabilitated patients for years on end because their families have abandoned them.

Stigmatization is particularly blamed for the problem since many families fail to accept that their mentally sick relative is healed or because they feel ashamed to have the person back into the family. "Stigmatization affects not only the patients but the families and the health workers as well," says Dr. Anna Puklo Dzadey, Acting Specialist in charge of the Hospital.

In the situation, Dr. Dzadey argued, it is the tax payer that loses at the end since the patients are fed on government budget. She said so long as the patient remains in the hospital, it is government money that they live on.

On the other hand, she said, mental health rehabilitation could be done in a less costly manner. "It should be more community based. The family should be part from day one. So the cost of treatment is much reduced. This is a human right issue. We are adding the burden of the disease on the whole society by not accepting the patient back into the community."

Adding her voice, the Deputy Director of Nursing Services, Margaret Peterson said families fail to even pay periodic visits to their sick relatives but are quick to show up when they hear the person is dead. She said some of the patients have been there for over ten years and are yet to set eyes on a relative.

She wishes the patients could be registered under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). The Pantang Hospital treats patients for free only for mental cases. For physical illnesses, they are transferred elsewhere, which incur some cost. She also feels that stigmatization is an issue that must be dealt with in the country if rehabilitated mental health patients are to be accepted back into their communities. "Mental illness is no respecter of persons. This is what we want the public to understand."

Ernest Oduro Tetebo, a Social Worker noted that his team has been frustrated on several occasions when they have had to send patients back into their communities. On some occasions they are unable to trace the families all together because they give wrong addresses when they bring the patients to the hospital. At other times, the families, even when they are located, simply refuse to accept their healed relatives back.

Rita Yeboah is a 30 year old patient from Nsawam. She was brought to the hospital in the year 2000. Rita may not be in the best of mental shapes. But she looks calm and weak. The authorities say her condition has improved a lot and that she would do better at home. But there is apparently no one to go home to. Her parents are dead. Mr. Asante, the uncle, is said to be old and sick back in Nsawam. "I want to go home," she says. "I have been here for too long."

Daniel Amitei Baah of Krobo Odumasi, in his mid thirties, has been in the hospital since 1993. He appears to have recovered fully from the way he talks. He is one of many who farm on the hospital's garden. He believes his sickness was the doing of family members who were against his "prophetic call." He still wants to be a pastor. He appealed to yours truly to help him get out of the hospital and find a job, get married and raise a family.

Meanwhile, BasicNeeds, an NGO, is helping the hospital in a horticultural project that is aimed at keeping rehabilitated patients busy whilst they are there. The NGO provided seed money for the project which started in October, 2007. Today, the farm is progressing steadily. Several vegetable species and root crops are doing well on the farm. "Since the start of the project, a number of the patients have benefited from it and we see the visible improvement in their mental state," Dr. Anna Dzadey said.

The Community Programmes Coordinator of BasicNeeds, Mr. Humphrey Kofie said that the programme was designed to promote the sense of work in the stabilized patients and to supplement their diet among others. "Despite being stabilized, there is much to be done to reduce stigma and promote the social inclusion of these people," he added.