Accra Psychiatric Hospital to stop admission

Accra, March 16, GNA - The Accra Psychiatric Hospital would stop the admission of patients in the next few days, if the Government did not provide it with adequate funds. Dr Akwasi Osei, Medical Director of the Hospital, told the Ghana News Agency in an interview on Thursday that the Hospital would also be forced to discharge some of the in-patients, as it was currently under serious financial constraint. He said the Hospital was spending about 220 million cedis a month to feed the patients and the absence of adequate resources was making it difficult to provide free but quality health care to the patients.

Dr Osei said the Hospital which had 400 beds is overcrowded with 1,200 patients and thus some of them had to sleep on the floor. He said the Hospital also lacked personnel with only five doctors instead of the full complement of 15 doctors adding that the poor sanitary condition was also a problem. "All these are causing lots of occupational hazards to us. We don't even have sufficient drugs for our patients, and the lives of our Nurses are even in danger because they could be attacked by the patients at anytime", he said.

Dr Osei said although the Government's incentive to provide free medical care for psychiatric patients was commendable, it should reconsider its decision if sustainability of the programme were becoming difficult. Dr Osei granted the interview after the West African Examination Council (WAEC) donated 120 blankets, 65 bed sheets and 20 gallons of detergents to the Hospital. The donation formed part of activities to mark the Council's 54th annual meeting.