Put Mental Health Medications under NHIS-Women With Mental Health Appeal to Gov’t

Some women with mental health conditions in the Country have appealed to the Government to, as a matter of urgency, initiate interventions to improve mental health service provision in the Country, including absorbing Mental Health Medications into the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

This, according to the women, would help reduce the challenges that come with managing mental health conditions.

Miss Esenam Drah, Project Coordinator at the Mental Health Society of Ghana, lamented that mental health meditations were very expressive and yet not covered under the NHIS, making it extremely difficult to live with mental health condition in Ghana.

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Miss Esenam Drah was speaking with this reporter during the filming of a documentary entitled, “WOMEN WITH MENTAL HEALTH CONDITIONS”. It was a Ghana Somubi Dwumadie sponsored project which was shown on TV Africa, Green TV, Ashaiman TV and also released on social media platforms to mark this year’s International Women’s Day.

“Most people with mental health conditions in Ghana are unable to work due to the nature of their conditions and that is making things very difficult for them”, she added.

Miss Esenam, who is herself a person with bipolar disorder said, Government absorbing the medications of mental health conditions would bring great relief to people living with mental health conditions in the Country.

She further lamented the lack of mental health practitioners and very poor mental health facilities in the Country. And called on Government to do well to improve the facilities. She also urged people who would want to pursue their careers in the medical field to venture into mental health.

In a separate interview, Miss Cecilia Fofo Ashaley, Programmes Assistant at BASIC NEEDS GHANA, a mental health advocacy organization, proposed the inculcation of mental health education into the Country’s educational curriculum.

She believed that if children were made aware of the signs and symptoms of mental health conditions, it would help in early detection and treatment of mental health conditions, because they would be able to tell their parents and teachers if their mental health state was moving from good to bad.

Miss Fofo Ashaley, who is also a person with bipolar disorder, acknowledged that people with mental health conditions who ended on the streets was a result of late or non-detection and treatment.

She was of the view that early detection and treatment would reduce the number of people with mental health conditions on the streets.

By Benjamin Nii-Lartey Ayiku || ghananewsonline.com.gh