Accra, Aug. 21, GNA - Dr. Gladys Ashitey, Deputy Minister of Health, has said the passage of the Mental Health Bill, which is before cabinet, would not be affected by a change of government.

"The Mental Health Bill and all others are not for any political party but are national documents," she said on Wednesday when the President of the Ghana Mental Health Association (GMHA), the Reverend Godson King Akpalu, led a delegation to pay a courtesy call on her. "These must not suffer any form of discontinuity due to change of government. Any political party that comes into power must be patriotic and love Ghana enough to continue with existing policies and programmes."

According to Dr. Ashitey, the delay of the passage of the Mental Health Bill was due to the demand by government that all the bills under the Ministry of Health be compressed into a one-off document. She said there were over 20 such bills from the ministry. She explained that even though she could not confirm when the bill would be passed the Ministry was making every effort to do so as soon as possible.

Dr Ashitey, however, stressed that "care must be taken not to rush it, as posterity would judge us for any shoddy work". The Deputy Minister said she was pleased that the GMHA had been revived after a long period of hibernation.

"The association has a crucial role to play in complementing the Ministry's effort in educating the public on mental health issues in particular and health issues as a whole."

Rev. Akpalu condemned the methods of treatment that mental patients were subjected to at prayer camps and other so called treatment centres saying some of them were chained and given concoctions that might even aggravate their condition.

He recalled an incident where a mental patient who was chained and apparently tortured managed to break free, grabbed a machete and murdered the daughter of the woman spiritualist who was treating her saying this lent credence to the wrong methods adopted in dealing with mental health problems.

Rev. Apkalu said it was regrettable that some families refused to accept back into their fold their relatives who had undergone psychiatric evaluation and treatment.

He said the revived GMHA would be active in educating the public on mental health issues stressing that not everyone who visited the psychiatric hospital was mad.

Mr Robert Azumah, Deputy Director (Administration) of the ministry, appealed to reverend ministers and those who preached the word of God to use their podiums to sensitize people on mental health issues and how to integrate those who had undergone treatment into their families.