Mr Thomas Tonzagli, a-40-year-old recovered mental health patient, has advised caregivers to assist and encourage people with mental health conditions to access care and take their drugs regularly.
He said strict adherence to drugs would facilitate the treatment process and called on the government to also do more and make mental health drugs affordable for patients.
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on the sidelines of stakeholder’s engagement meeting in Sunyani, Mr Tonglazi, also a basic schoolteacher, said hospital drugs remained efficacious for treatment.
He, therefore, advised caregivers against resorting to the use of herbal medicines and concoctions instead of hospital drugs.
The Sunyani-based MIHOSO International Foundation organised the meeting, attended by health workers, traditional authorities, civil society organisations, and actors as well as some heads of Departments and Agencies to collect inputs on its programmes for the next five years.
It was aimed at helping the foundation to re-strategize and come out with interventions owned and sustained by community members, as part of the redesign phase of the Star Ghana and West African Civil Society Institute (WACSI) Strengthening programme.
Titled “Civil society strengthening the programme#shifting the power”, the WACSI funded programme aimed at fortifying the organisation’s sustainability by enhancing their identity, operational powers, financial acumen and fostering diversification of funding streams.
Mr Tonglazi said he had returned to normalcy and was in a stable condition because he strictly took his drugs and expressed appreciation to MIHOSO for their assistance in helping him and others to be reintegrated into society.
He said with the support from the foundation and its partners, some patients at Amoma had recovered, engaging in various economic-livelihood activities to fend for themselves and their families.
“We were supported to form self-help groups where the foundation provided us with some employable skills training and some capital to build on our lives,” Mr Tonglazi stated.
Mr Thomas Benarkuu, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer, in-charge of Operations, MISOHO told the GNA Mr Tonglazi’s story was only one of the success stories of a mental health project the foundation together with BasicNeeds Ghana implemented in the Bono and Bono East Regions.
