The Auditor-General, Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu, has revealed a nationwide shortage of essential medicines for treating mental health cases in Ghana.

In the 2022 report on Mental Health Management, the Auditor General highlighted the challenges faced by the Central Medical Stores (CMS) in meeting the demand for psychotropic drugs in psychiatric hospitals.

According to the report, mental health units across various facilities audited during the specified period did not receive the necessary medications required for treating mental health cases.

The Central Medical Stores, responsible for supplying psychotropic drugs, struggled to provide the requested quantities to the country's three main psychiatric hospitals - the Accra Psychiatric Hospital, Ankaful Psychiatric Hospital, and Pantang Hospital.

As a result of this shortage, community psychiatry nurses in municipal and district hospitals resorted to prescribing medications to patients, who had to purchase them from the open market at their own expense.

"The shortage has compelled community psychiatry nurses at the municipal and district hospitals to prescribe medicines to patients to buy on the open market for use at their own cost as those medicines did not match the ones prescribed by mental health officers," the report indicated.

Moreover, drugs not supplied by the CMS and not covered by the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) were sold to patients at a higher price than their original cost, further burdening those seeking treatment.

In response to the audit findings, the Auditor-General recommended two crucial actions for the Mental Health Authority to tackle the medication crisis effectively:

1. Collaborate with the Central Medical Stores to distribute psychotropic medications based on patient turnout at treatment facilities. This measure aims to ensure that hospitals and facilities with higher patient visits receive an adequate supply of medications for effective treatment.
2. Collaborate with the Ministries of Finance and Health to streamline the procurement process for acquiring psychotropic medicines. By doing so, the goal is to establish a more efficient and smooth process for obtaining the necessary medications, ensuring uninterrupted care for patients with mental health conditions.

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Meanwhile, Management has, however, acknowledged the shortages and erratic supply of psychotropic medicines for treating mental health conditions but has requested the audit team to rephrase the "non-availability of the medicines" to "inadequacy and erratic supply of psychotropic medicine