Mental health practitioners in the country say they are not happy with the retention of the sub-sector under the Ghana Health Service and are thus arguing for autonomy in the name of a Mental Health Service. At a workshop organized by BasicNeeds, an NGO, for journalists on the "current state of the Mental Health Bill" the psychiatrists argued among other things that the sector will receive the needed attention only if it stood on its own and championed its own cause. Former Chief Psychiatrist Dr. J.B Asare, a man whose name has become synonymous with mental health practice in the country was the chief proponent "for a separate Mental Health Service with an Authority." "We are a misfit in the Ghana Health Service," he stressed. He recounted the difficulties he encountered when he was a lone voice amidst other medical practitioners in the Ghana Health Service, whilst championing the cause of his pet subject - psychiatry. "Your ideas are usually drowned," he said. All the same, the draft Mental Health Bill, which has already seen ten drafts since it was initiated in 2004, makes provision for the establishment of an "integrated Mental Health Service." When it comes into being, the service shall have a Director who shall be "responsible for planning, organisation, administration, co-ordination, monitoring and evaluation of mental health services in the country." But the Bill must be passed into law first, and this has been the headache for BasicNeeds, an NGO which has been championing the cause of mental health in the country, as well as the practitioners. Dr. Asare, who did not seem to have lost a bit of his passion with age, argued that a Mental Health Law would attract more people to work in the sector including Ghanaian Psychiatrists who are practicing outside. In the health sector, he noted, "even when scholarships come for people to be trained outside, mental health is not considered and so when people sponsor themselves to train outside they don't return." Dr. Asare's lamentations did not end there; Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, he said, had intended the Pantang Psychiatric Hospital, one of the three in the country, to become a "Pan African Mental Health Centre." "But what happened after Nkrumah left the scene," he asked. In pushing for the passage of the Mental Health Bill, stakeholders are worried that Ghanaians are not clamouring as hard as they did for the Domestic Violence Law for instance. In this regard, several speakers at the workshop noted that Ghanaians actually shy away from the issue of mental health because of the deep seated perception that a person with a mental disorder must be the "naked grubby mad man or woman on the street." In other words, many Ghanaians stigmatize mental health patients just as they do not consider themselves possible candidates. The truth of the matter however is that there are several forms of mental disorders of which any person "rich, poor, young or old" could become victim to. A Consultant Psychiatrist, Dr. Yao Mfodwo said several people walk about with depression, anxiety, Psychosis and other forms of mental disorders without knowing or even imagining them to be mentally related. Mrs. Estelle M. Appiah, the Director of Legislative Drafting at the Attorney General's Department added her voice, saying "people don't seem to realize that mental disorder can be mild or severe-one thing we must never forget is that any of us can be affected." The draft Mental Health Bill is said to be very comprehensive as, unlike its predecessor of 1972, it makes provision for the protection of vulnerable groups like women and children, places emphasis on community rather than institutional care and recognizes, regulates and utilizes traditional and faith healers among others. The bill is currently said to be with the Health Minister who has called for "two retreats" on it with the relevant players and that it should be going to cabinet soon for onward submission to parliament. Dr. Sammy Ohene of the University of Ghana Medical School said it should be possible for the bill to be passed before the end of the year. Indeed, the NDC made it a campaign promise. Source: Public Agenda