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The Accra Psychiatric Hospital will not admit new patients until the  GHC 1.6m promised by government hits the hospital’s account, Authorities of the Mental Health service facility has said.

Government last week announced it has released an amount of GHC 1.6m which is expected to hit the account of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital by Monday (yesterday) to settle the debt owed by the mental health service facility.

The hospital last week suspended admission of patients into the facility due to the crippling debt. It warned that the hospital was likely to experience food shortage in the coming days due to the unavailability of funds to restock.

The decision was taken following several failed attempts by management of the facility to get government to meet its budgetary obligation for more than three years.

The hospital is Ghana’s premier facility for persons with psychiatric and mental disorders among other related health complications.

Ministry of Health, Public Relations Officer of the Ministry of Health, Tony Goodman believes the said amount will clear the GHC 1.2m debt the hospital owes its suppliers and will also help in its effective running.

The Medical Director of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital, Dr Pinamang Apau in an interview with Joy News stated that in as much as the facility has assurance from government to settle its debt, it will not run ahead of itself to admit new patients.

“We are still in the same situation that we’ve been talking about for the past month. Now if I admit a patient to the hospital it becomes my responsibility and I have to feed them. As at now, it is becoming more and more difficult; over the weekend it was that bad and so if I go ahead and admit it is going to become a burden.”