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A Senior Psychologist, Professor Joseph Osafo has called on government to establish a National Rehabilitation Center to treat people with mental disorders.

He noted it is about time that mental health challenges were taken into serious consideration by the government and the Mental Health Authority.

The Head of Psychology at the University of Ghana expressed concerns about the inadequate attention given to people with mental disorders.

To him, the needs of these people, particularly those wandering on the streets, have been abandoned for far too long, hence admonishing successive governments to allocate resources to cater for them.

He recounted the dangers involved in one encountering a person with mental problem on the streets as these people, if care is not taken, could inflict bodily harm on drivers and pedestrians.

Prof. Joseph Osafo believed having rehab center across the country to offer both medical and psychological treatments is one significant step to resolving the mental health situation in the nation.

“We need a National Rehabilitation Center . . . What we need is governmental commitment that every successive government will take mental health serious and set up a facility to cater for people with these challenges,” he told Kwami Sefa Kayi on Peace FM’s morning show “Kokrokoo”.

However, as the nation waits for a National Rehabilitation Center, Prof. Osafo appealed for the establishment of makeshift structures to serve the same purpose.

“ . . the truth of the matter is that there is congestion in the two psychiatric hospitals in Accra, the Accra Psychiatric Hospital and the one at Pantang,” he stated, stressing “we can have a makeshift structures to begin with” to accommodate these patients.