BasicNeeds-Ghana lauds passage of Mental Health Bill

The Basic Needs Ghana, an NGO on Mental Health Issues and Mental Health Society of Ghana, has said the enactment of the Mental Health Bill into law would ensure the reform of the mental health sector.

"The Mental Health Law now requires the Presidential assent and we are hopeful this will occur without delay," it said in a statement issued by Mr Yaro Badimak Peter, Executive Director of BasicNeeds-Ghana in Accra.

The statement said "it is clear that the coming into being of the law ushers in a new chapter in mental health care policy and service delivery in Ghana. It will ensure the integration of mental health in all health services and policy initiatives more than before and would significantly end the tokenism and after-thought that the mental health sub-sector has had to contend with over the years”.

It said "more importantly this law adds the impetus for development programmes to factor in the needs, rights and aspirations of poor people with mental illness and their families. It will also encourage civil society organisations that have shied away from mental health to come aboard and provide service user groups the needed legal and moral backing to pursue their rights and ambitions within this law and other relevant legal frameworks”.

"We trust that our partnership with the Ministry of Health, Ghana Health Service, the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare, Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development the law will be implemented to the letter and we are ready to mobilise and work with the numerous NGOs/CBOs partners and the Alliance for Mental Health and Development, especially the Mental Health Society of Ghana to ensure civil society effectively contribute to the realisation of the objectives of the law and bring the needed relief to all."

"It is our hope that Directors of Health Services at the District and Regional levels who have individually done so much for mental health care in their jurisdictions would use this law to do more for the sector.”

"Once again, we congratulate every single organisation and individual but the struggle continues and so let us remain steadfast."