Danquah Institute committed to strengthening mental health-care delivery

The executive director of the Danquah Institute, Antoinette Tsiboe-Darko, has said that DI is committed to strengthening mental health-care delivery in Ghana. Tsiboe-Darko made these remarks at the 127th birthday celebration for one of Ghana’s founding fathers, J B Danquah, which was marked with a donation to the Accra Psychiatric Hospital. Tsiboe-Darko said DI decided to support the hospital because of the persistent calls to deepen mental health education in Ghana. “You know the Danquah Institute prides itself on the liberation of individual freedoms,” Tsiboe-Darko, who doubles as a deputy general secretary of the New Patriotic Party, said. “For us, mental health is a necessary part of this liberation for individual freedoms. “How do we fight for the rights of people? How do we create awareness in society about some of these things that still have a bit of stigma?
“What we have seen here today tells us that we still have a society that treats mental health patients as outcasts. We need to spread the message and create an awareness that even if they’re difficult to manage, visit them, show them some love,” Tsiboe-Darko said.
Among the items donated to the hospital were an unspecified sum of money, toiletries, water and food items. For her part, a spokeswoman for the Accra Psychiatric Hospital, Francisca Ntow, thanked the institute for its kind gesture. “We are very excited for this donation,” she said. “We want to say a very big thank you to Danquah Institute for remembering Accra Psychiatric Hospital at this difficult moment. “[The guests] didn’t just come empty-handed. They came to visit us with items that are very needed for us to run the facility. We’re very grateful to them,” Ntow said.