Stakeholders in health, education and social welfare from Tamale and Sagnarigu Assemblies have been engaged on ways to ensure inclusive health care and other basic services for persons with mental illness and epilepsy in the country.

This became necessary following concerns raised by some persons with mental illness and epilepsy to the effect that they faced stigma, discrimination as well as poor treatment when they tried to access such basic services coupled with inadequate drugs at health facilities amongst others, which affected their well-being.

The day's engagement forum, organised in Tamale, formed part of the Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR) for mental health and epilepsy project being implemented by Norsaac, a civil society organisation, with support from BasicNeeds-Ghana and Amplify Change.

Representatives from the Department of Gender and some members of self-help groups (people with mental illness and epilepsy) from the two assemblies also took part in the deliberations.

Result from the engagement was that stakeholders pledged their commitment to put in place measures to support persons with mental illness and epilepsy to access quality basic services to enhance their well-being.

Representatives from the Department of Social Welfare assured the forum that the Department would assign officers to various health facilities to make it easy to enhance coordination between them and health facilities in rendering services to persons with mental illness.

Those from the health sector committed to educate their colleagues to treat persons with mental health issues better and to also inculcate in their education issues of SRHR for persons with mental illness.

Those from the education sector also committed to re-engage their teachers to give special attention to persons with mental illness such that they would not feel stigmatised in school.

Madam Lucy Bayuo, Principal Community Mental Health Officer, at Bagabaga Health Centre in the Sagnarigu Municipality, said the engagement forum ensured an understanding between health care workers and persons with mental illness in terms of the challenges at the facilities and expressed optimism that it would help to improve care for persons with mental illness while reducing and or ending stigma against them.

Mr Berimbil Musah, Assistant Social Welfare Officer at the Sagnarigu Municipal Assembly, said the issues raised during the engagement reminded them to work more by continuing sensitisation and home visits to educate persons with mental illness to amongst other things renew their National Health Insurance Scheme subscriptions on time to enable them to enjoy health care all the time.

Miss Rumana Jibrila, Girls and Female Empowerment Manager at Norsaac, emphasised the need for specialist teachers to take care of persons with mental illness in schools as well as called for regular guidance and counselling for students with mental illness problems.

She said "Due to the discriminations and stigmatisation that they face in schools, they end up dropping out of the school system. Therefore, the guidance and counselling services will help to push further."