Only four out of 300 mental patients who were sent to the Accra Psychiatric Hospital by the Judicial Service for examination and treatment have been reclaimed by the service. This is in spite of an earlier announcement by the hospital of its intention to petition CHRAJ to compel the police and judiciary to reclaim the 300 mental patients brought there by the two bodies. Although the hospital has declared more than 520 mental patients treated and discharged, they are still resident at the hospital because those who sent them there have refused to take them back. The Medical Director in charge of the hospital, Dr Akwasi Osei, told the Daily Graphic that the reclaiming was being done at an excessively slow pace and it remained to be seen how it was going to end. He said the hospital would pursue the issue further if by the end of this month only a few of the 520 had been taken away. Dr Osei said following the Daily Graphic's publication of the hospital's earlier announcement, two officials from CHRAJ visited the hospital to ascertain the situation for prompt action. Enquiries at the CHRAJ confirmed the visit by its officials but the Public Relations Officer of the commission, Akosua Aidoo, said the two officials detailed to deal with the issue were out of Accra. She said action would be taken on the issue but did not indicate exactly what would be done, adding that the two officials would recommend what steps should be taken. The hospital, on February 19, this year, made clear its intention to petition CHRAJ to compel the police and judiciary to reclaim hundreds of mental patients brought there by the two bodies for treatment. Dr Osei said the action had become necessary because more than 520 mental patients so far treated and discharged by the hospital, who could lead normal lives were still resident at the hospital because those who sent them there had refused to take them back. A large majority of them, he said, were sent there by the police and the courts to be examined to find out if they were of sound mind. Those found to be of unsound mind, he explained, were treated and later declared cured and discharged, but when the police and the courts were contacted, they refused to go forward to claim them. He said a few of the treated patients had been sent to the hospital by their families. The situation has created massive congestion at the hospital, which was built in 1906 to accommodate not more than 200 people but currently has 1,100 inmates. With further expansion work, the hospital has now been equipped with 500 beds and, as a result, the remaining 600 patients, out of the 1,100, sleep on the floor. Each ward, constructed to provide lodging for only 60 people, is now forced to take 250 people. He disclosed further that apart from the people brought in by state institutions, some of the patients went there themselves to receive treatment, while others were brought in by relatives or other hospitals. Source: Daily Graphic