By Dennis Peprah
Sunyani, Oct 17, GNA – The Trust Jesus Foundation (TJF) has advocated the establishment of a mental health tax to raise the required funds to cater for the needs of persons with mental illness in the country.
The foundation is a non-government organisation that works to improve the lives of people with mental health conditions.
“Due to the huge burden on most mental health institutions, there is the need for the government to constitute a mental health tax that would bring in resources into a designated fund to assist the nation’s mental healthcare delivery,” it stated.
The foundation made the call in a statement signed by Ms. Mary Wormenor, the President, as part of its fifth anniversary celebration.
“Currently, being admitted to a psychiatric home came with a high cost to both the family of the patient and the government which calls for some collective assistance to keep the mental health institutions running”, a copy of the statement made available to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Sunyani, indicated.
It observed that, for the mental health institutions to provide adequate and quality services to the public they would need a good inflow of funds which was currently unavailable.
The statement insisted that citizens would therefore have to come in to assist the government to take care of mental patients which would help reduce the number of mentally challenged persons on the streets.
“We seized the opportunity to educate the public regarding mental health issues by indicating that there is the need for people to take good care of their mental health in order not to lose their sanity and destroy their lives,” it added.
According to the Mental Health Authority, 81 people committed suicide in the first quarter of 2024, and about five hundred people attempted to commit suicide in Ghana.
“This makes it serious. That’s why there is the need for us to come together to create awareness on mental health.
“We are saying that we want people to speak up when there is a problem, so if you are going through any situation, whatever it is, speak to somebody, somebody you trust, or a mental health professional,” it said.
Also in the statement, the Executive Director of the Mental Health Institute, Dr Yennusom Maalug, advised the public to be positive about life.
“Things are tough, life is challenging, but always look at the positive side of life; sometimes things don’t go well but it may just be a blessing in disguise so don’t give up,” Dr. Maalug encouraged.
In recounting the things people are expected to do to keep themselves mentally healthy, Dr Maalug advised that people should have enough resting time and exercise a lot.
“Exercise has been shown to have a lot of benefits; when you exercise it distracts you from the difficulties you would be experiencing, and helps you to sleep well; it releases some chemicals in the brain which makes you feel good about yourself and improves your physique,” he stated.
Dr Maalug observed that, “it is not good for people to use substances as coping strategies for stressful situations”, stressing that “one can end up developing a substance use disorder in the process.
He also encouraged people to develop strong social positive relationships; “reach out to friends and loved ones regularly which makes you feel good; go to social gatherings, it has mental benefits,” he added.
Dr Maalug observed that raising awareness about mental health was one way to prevent mental health disorders, insisting that, if people knew about situations that could lead to mental health disorders, they would be able to take actions earlier than to wait for things to get worse.
“Talking about it would make people feel that the nation is serious about mental health and people with challenges would not feel stigmatized if they seek assistance,” he stressed.
As part of the anniversary celebration, the foundation held a procession through some principal streets of Accra to help create awareness on the seriousness of mental health issues.
GNA