Accra, June 14, GNA - Dr Fred Mac Palm, Founder and Director of Help Our Children Foundation (HOCFound), has called on the government to formulate laws to criminalise the activities of spiritualists and prayer camp operators, who abuse the rights of mentally-challenged people. Dr Mac Palm, who made the call during the official launch of HOCFound in Accra, also expressed the need for sound policies to address mental illness.

HOCfound is a non-governmental organisation, dedicated to the promotion of the welfare of mentally-challenged children. It also seeks to identify and support people with disabilities in underprivileged communities and provide opportunities for disadvantaged children to enable them to survive in the global economy.

Dr Mac Palm said chaining and beating of mentally-challenged people by divine healers in some prayer camps, was an abuse of their rights. He said HOCFound had acquired a land in the Greater Accra Region, to establish a Psychiatric Rehabilitation Centre, where it would provide care to mentally-challenged children in society.

He said plans were also underway to establish similar care centres in the rest of the regions as part of efforts to ensure that medical attention for patients was brought to their doorsteps. Dr Mac Palm said HOCFound would embark on an exercise to educate parents to be able to detect early signs of mental illness in their children and how to handle such cases.

Mrs Helena Mensah, Director of Health Education Unit of the Ghana Education Service, said the country risked losing her cultural values if children's development was not given special attention. She said children were important to society and efforts must be made to ensure that they enjoyed good health.

Mrs Mensah called on pregnant women to eat nutritious meals and attend ante-natal care centres for advice on proper medication, explaining that incorrect use of drugs could affect the mental well-being of the child.