The Mental Health Authority says Electroconvulsive Therapy machines donated by the International Central Gospel Church will go a long way to improve the delivery of mental health in the country.
The church donated three of the machines to the Authority, which will later be distributed to the Accra, Pantang and Ankaful Psychiatric Hospitals.
The machine, estimated at a cost of sixty-four thousand Ghana cedi is used to send shock waves for the treatment of depression.
Lauding the church for its generous donation, Chief Psychiatrist and Executive Officer of the Mental Health Authority, Dr Akwesi Osei said the machine will help to improve the mental status of some mentally challenged patients across the country.
“It is common knowledge that the psychiatric hospitals are cash-scrap, so even money to feed the patients is hard to come by. And although government is doing its best, their best is not enough. What the government bought for us a few years ago broke down and so there is none to work with. It is only Accra Psychiatric Hospital that has been able to buy one but that machine also breaks down often. So we are really excited to have these new ones.”
He added that while patients who receive treatment with the machine at the Accra Psychiatric Hospital are made to pay for the services, the introduction of the new machine will mean free services for all patients.
“The Mental Health Authority needs more things, this is not enough but half a loaf is better than none. The Accra Psychiatric Hospital bought their machine and that is why they charge people, but with these gifts, no one will be asked to pay anything. This machine also does not work in isolation so we are hoping to afford the others and that is where help from other civil society organizations will be welcomed.”
Explaining the rationale behind the donation, Executive Pastor of Christ Temple of ICGC, Albert Ocran said the exercise falls in line with the church’s mission of influencing society through Christ.
According to him, the neglect of the mental health in the country is a bother to the founder and general overseer of the church, Pastor Mensa Otabil, hence the decision to concentrate on health care delivery during the celebration of the church’s 35th anniversary.
“ICGC has always been committed about raising leaders, shaping visions and influencing society. At the beginning of every year, ICGC does an assessment of what we would like to invest in and when the decision to help the Mental Health Authority was concluded. We approached them to find out what they needed. Of course, they had needs ranging from small to extremely expensive but we settled on getting them the machine because of its importance. We were told getting one machine will go a long way to help in the delivery of health care but we decided to get them three so each of the psychiatric hospitals would get one.”
“Apart from the donation what we have also embarked on is the blood donation exercise, it’s something that the church decided to do. And we were able to raise over 3,500 pints of blood for the national blood service Ghana. These are not the only project the church is embarking on. We have not abandoned our monthly support to the children’s cancer unit of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital. This means we are running three health care interventions just within this year and that is very significant,” he added.
The church since turning 35 in February this year has marked the anniversary with a health walk, a thanksgiving service, blood donation and the presentation of ECT therapy machines to aid in health care delivery.