Cape Coast, March 16, GNA - Parliament has been asked to expedite action on the Mental Health Bill and pass it into law to help attract more professionals to the country's psychiatric hospitals and institutions.

Mr. Kingsley Asamoah-Bediako, a Deputy Chief Health Service Administrator, who made the call, said that the risk involved in psychiatri= c practice and the low conditions of service for personnel did not make it lucrative and attractive enough for them to work at those facilities. He made the appeal when Saint Augustine's College donated items wort= h GH¢5,000 to inmates of the Ankaful Psychiatric Hospital at Ankaful, near Cape Coast, as part of the School's 80th anniversary celebrations. The items include 4 bags of rice, gallons of frytol cooking oil, toilet roll, assorted soft drinks, used clothes, biscuits and tomatoes paste. Mr. Asamoah-Bediako said that health personnel were unwilling to accep= t postings to psychiatric institutions because of lack of attractive packages for personnel working there.

He called for better remunerations for professionals working at psychiatri= c institutions. Mr. Asamoah-Bediako commended the school for the gesture and appealed to individuals and organizations to compliment government's efforts in providing the needs of the inmates of psychiatric hospitals. He was worried that some families failed to accept their relatives, who ha= d been rehabilitated at the hospital.

Mr. Asamoah-Bediako advised the youth to avoid drug abuse and other social vices, which caused psychiatric problems, and concentrate on their studies. The Headmaster of the School, Mr. Joseph Connel, who presented the items, said the donation was part of the School's social responsibility to peopl= e with mental problems.

In another development, the agriculture department of the School, embarked on a tree planting exercises during which over 200 tree seedlings were planted on the school compound and along the Metropolitan Hospital road for beautification of the environment, as part of activities to commemorate the anniversary.