CJ, others wade into Psychiatric Hospital exposé
Font size:
admin
Chief Justice Mrs. Georgina Theodora Wood
The Psychiatric Hospital story, an investigative piece published by the authoritative New Crusading Guide late last year, has yet generated another stir in the corridors of the judiciary.
Registering the story as a human rights issue that required the urgent attention of the Government and Ghanaians at large, the Chief Justice (CJ), Her Ladyship Mrs. Georgina Theodora Wood has hinted that her outfit would make use of the findings of the story reported by ace investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas.According to the Judicial Secretary, Justice Alex B. Opoku Acheampong in a letter addressed to the Managing Editor of the paper, "the CJ considers this publication as a human rights issue".
The letter dated 30th December, 2009 further stated that "the Honourable Chief Justice has further directed me to assure you that her office would make use of your findings as intended".
Meanwhile, the Ghana Mental Health Association (GMHA) which is the umbrella body for Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) in Mental Health has called on Civil Society Organizations to mount more pressure on the government to see to the passage of the Mental Health Bill.
The call was made following the recent investigative report by the journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas, which exposed atrocities and various human abuses committed by staff of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital.
According to the president of the GMHA, Reverend Godson King Akpalu, "the recent revelations by Mr. Anas Aremeyaw Anas of the New Crusading Guide though depressing; it advocates for the need to support Mental Health care in Ghana through reformation in mental health institutions, practices and delivery in Ghana." He added that "the Association sees any further delay in the passage of the bill as an endorsement of human rights abuses in our psychiatric facilities and in our societies".
He said the degree of violations in our country's psychiatric health facilities that Mr. Aremeyaw Anas' story expounded constitutes the failure of the nation to address mental health issues.
The Association cautioned that if maximum attention was not given to these health facilities, "Ghana would be one of the countries that would contribute immensely to the World Health Organization's (WHO) estimates that come 2010, mental illness would become the second largest non-communicable disease in the world. This phenomenon has already begun manifesting in our social lives considering the economic trends and environmental conditions that have taken toll in our lives and is threatening our very existence".
Reverend Akpalu called on government to pass the Mental Health Bill to effectively address the issues of human rights abuses, inadequacies in drugs and materials, and effective care delivery.
Source: The New Crusading Guide
del.icio.us
Digg
Technorati
Email to a friend
Print version
Plain textRate this article
Comments (0 posted):
Post your comment