If Mental Illness Were Ebola

The recent surges in suicide cases has brought the light unto Ghana’s mental health care system. The embarrassing fact of the matter is that mental illness and suicide have always been with us. The national attention that suicide has received is purely down to the influence of the media. Suicide is not a new thing to Ghana. Mental illness is one that we are all prone to, even the experts in the field-in a little less than two years ago, my lecturer in the discipline of mental health committed suicide.

We are behaving like mental health is a new subject to us. It has been established that one out of every four persons have a mental problem. So the recent media reports of suicide is barely a tip of the iceberg. Mental health is a very broad topic and l can not exhaust all of it one writing-not even in a lifetime.  But one thing that all Ghanaians should be ashamed of is the poor state of mental health in the country. In 2001, the World Health Organisation conceived the slogan: “No Health Without Mental Health”. Therefore, every solid healthcare system is one that has mental health as an integral part. However, the same can not be said of Ghana’s health situation. Mental health is virtually absent. 

In theory, Ghana has a great mental health outlook. Ghana’s Mental Health Act 846 of 2012 was touted as one of the best there is in the world. Unfortunately, our mental health system is only on paper. Five years after the enactment of the Mental Health Act, not a single penny has been released by government towards the funding of the statutory Mental Health Authority. 

How do we expect to build a robust and comprehensive mental health system whilst the motherboard of mental healthcare is living at the mercy of meagre and sporadic donations from NGOs? Are we going to leave the much talked about deinstitutionalisation of mental health care in the pipeline? When will the right and adequate infrastructure of mental health be provided? Who will take serious the issues of severe shortage of human resource in the mental health industry? When will Ministry of Health begin to remunerate mental health staffs accordingly to their expertise? There are a million questions l could ask.

The outbreak of the ebola pandemic in fellow West African nations has shown us how desperate and pragmatic we can get as a country in safeguarding our health. At the mention of ebola, makeshift quarantine centres were raised all over the country. At the mention of ebola, contingency funds were established. At the mention of ebola, special personnel were deployed on standby. At the mention of ebola, stakeholder crisis meetings were being convened all over. At the mention of ebola, stringent security measure were being put in place left, right, centre. 

So what is the crime of mental illness victims? Why cant priority be given to mental health? We need an urgent revision of our priorities before mental disorders prove to us that there is a disease, far more dangerous than the much dreaded ebola.