Striking nurses at the Pantang Psychiatric Hospital in Accra have refused to call off their action despite a plea by the Chief Executive Officer of the Mental Health Authority, Dr. Akwasi Osei.

Employees at the second mental health facility for Greater Accra, have refused to attend to patients in protest against what they say is the encroachment on the hospital's lands.

Hundreds of patients, who went to the facility for treatment earlier today, have been turned away. Joy News Maxwell Agbagbah reported.

Worried about the development, the CEO of the Mental Health Authority led an entourage to meet with the staff Monday afternoon in an attempt to get them to go back to work but the meeting yielded no results.
“As you heard, there was a loud 'NO' to the appeal from the CEO of the Mental Health Authority,” Head of Senior Staff, Elvis Akuamoah told the reporter.
“We represent people and if they are saying ‘No we won’t budge’ [then] the action stays as it stays,” he added.
Dr. Osei and his entourage according to our reporter, left the facility and headed for the Ministry of Health to discuss how best they can resolve the issue.

The Pantang Psychiatric Hospital was the second of such facility built by the Government in 1975 after the Accra Psychiatric Hospital.
The hospital is situated near a village called Pantang, about 1.6 kilometres off the Accra-Aburi road and 25 kilometres from Accra Central.
The hospital was originally planned to be a Pan-African Mental Health Village.
Madam Fati, a woman whose daughter is said to be suffering from hallucination, wailed uncontrollably whilst narrating to the Super Morning Show host, how the nurses refused to offer any help to her distressed child who has not slept for days.
She said despite her pleas for her daughter to be given medication to alleviate her condition, no action has come through from the medical staff.
Same was the case of a 70-year-old man whose daughter was transported in a police van due to her violent behaviour, all the way from Hohoe in the Volta Region but has been turned away by the staff.
He has no option at the moment than to send his daughter back to Hohoe which is about 191 kilometres from Accra.

Source:myjoyonline.com