8,964 Inmates of various Psychiatric hospital registered

A TOTAL of  8,964 inmates of the various psychiatric institutions in the country have been registered onto the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) as part of efforts to extend coverage of the scheme to various vulnerable groups across the country.
Additionally 1,438 patients in leprosaria nationwide have also been registered.
The Director of Operations at  the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Mr Anthony Gingong, announced this at the Pantang Psychiatric Hospital on Tuesday when 401 inmates were presented with their identification cards.
He indicated that over 53,000 beneficiaries of the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme had already been registered onto the scheme. 
He said according to the NHIA 2011 annual report, 60 per cent of the entire subscriber base of the NHIS  was made up of the exempt category — under 18-year-olds, indigents, above 70-year-olds, among others.
Mr Gingong noted that one of the reasons the NHIS was set up was to address inequity when it came to financial access to health care in the country, noting that although the NHIS was a social arrangement to reduce poverty, it was realised that a key section of the public, including mental patients, was not adequately covered under the scheme.
He expressed confidence that with the enrolment of that category of the public onto the NHIS and the coming into force of the new NHIA Law, Act 852, people with mental challenges would also have their healthcare needs addressed.
Mr Gingong called for a change in attitude towards mental health patients, adding that mentally challenged patients suffered so much stigmatisation at the hands of the public, sometimes leading to their needs being overlooked.
He revealed that although the cost of the core treatment of mental illness was borne by the government, patients were left on their own when they contracted other common ailments such as malaria and cholera.
According to him, Act 852 had room for mental health.
Contrary to the normal practice whereby newly registered NHIS subscribers waited for about three months before accessing health care under the scheme, Mr Gingong said, the “inmates can start benefiting from the card right away. There is no waiting period for this”.
He revealed that 2013 would be a busy year for the NHIA, as the authority would undertake major programmes such as the instant issuance of biometric ID cards, nation-wide roll-out of capitation and the commencement of electronic claims processing.
A psychiatric specialist at the Pantang Hospital, Dr Frank Baning, praised the NHIA for the move and called for more collaboration between the two institutions.
He bemoaned the high level of stigmatisation suffered by mental patients and expressed worry about some sorry scenes at so-called healing and prayer camps where many mentally ill patients were sent.
According to him, some of the patients returned from those camps worse than they were and said although the camps were not the right places for many of the patients, doctors were compelled to work with them because of financial problems suffered by mental health practitioners and hospitals. 
Dr Baning said a change of attitude towards persons with mental ailments would go a long way to defuse the high level of stigma attached to the condition.
In his view, “mental health should not be looked at in isolation” and called on health policy makers to ensure “more integration in the management of health”.