The Executive Directive of BSK Health Advocacy Foundation, Bismark Kwabla Kpobi has urged President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the New Patriotic Party administration to prioritize the provision of mental health drugs to the various mental health facilities in the country.
In a letter addressed to President Akufo-Addo following his announcement of the inclusion of mental health treatment in the National Health Insurance Scheme, Mr Kwabla Kpobi lamented over the inadequate supply and lack of availability of mental health drugs to several mental health facilities in the country.
According to him, it has been over eighteen (18) months since the last mental drugs were supplied to all Mental Health Units across the country.
He emphasized that such phenomena if not checked would not be beneficial despite mental health inclusion in the National Health Insurance Scheme.
“Mental Health inclusions in the NHIS has been a major concern to all practitioners of and some of us have been advocating for it. In an engagement with the current CEO of Mental Health Authority, Prof. Dr Pinama Appau, I suggested some conditions that must be highly included and the need to make it compulsory at all Health Facility Levels where Mental Health Units are functioning.
“Mr. President, I must be grateful to you for accepting our desperate advocacy and appeal to finally include Mental Health in NHIS treatment, but one passionate grieve that must be consciously addressed is the availability of Mental Health drugs”.
Bismark Kwabla Kpobi
The Mental Health Advocate and Senior Registered Mental Nurse, Mr Kwabla Kpobi further indicated that mental health inclusions in the National Health Insurance Scheme treatment can only benefit the individual clients and their families only when drugs are made available in all Mental Health Units across the country.
He noted that under such circumstances the various individuals who are on the National Health Insurance Scheme would therefore be given drugs monthly per their conditions.
“This is because if Mental Health Drugs are not supplied by the government, no hospital that has purchased those drugs will give them out by NHIS, so it will be another cash-and-carry system which won’t help in combating the canker of financial pressure on MENTAL Clients and their families. So, the government must supply all these drugs consistently”.
Bismark Kwabla Kpobi
A Call For Mental Health Drugs To Be Decentralized
Moreover, the Executive Director of BSK Health Advocacy Foundation, Bismark Kwabla Kpobi called on the government to ensure the decentralization of mental health drugs.
He emphasized that mental health drugs should not be only covered at district and Teaching Hospital Levels, but also extended to all Sub-district levels of Mental Units to foster accessibility, and comfort and lessen the financial burdens of individuals by travelling far to get access to the drugs.
According to Mr Kwabla Kpobi, the inability of the government to carry out such task will render the inclusion of the treatment of mental health on the National Health Insurance Scheme ‘useless’ and ‘cos 90°’.
Mr Bismark Kwabla Kpobi concluded by appealing to President Akufo-Addo and the management of the National Health Insurance Scheme to make the acquisition and renewal of the National Health Insurance cards free for mental health clients, particularly because almost all mental health clients are unemployed with low family support system.
“Mr. President, it is my belief and plea that you walk the talk as you indicated so that this applauded policy will not be a mere political jargon with no coercive interest in seeing it implemented. This policy can only work if Mental Health Authority gets resources and logistics to function well, and I pray you to prioritise them to making this policy see the light”.
Bismark Kwabla Kpobi
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