Dr Frank Baning, the Medical Director of Pantang Hospital, has announced that about 320 recovered patients have been reunited with their families

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Dr Baning told Graphiconline.com that, the hospital administration relied on community psychiatric units located within the various assemblies to work in partnership with the Social Welfare Department offices across the country to reintegrate the cured patients into society.

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Prior to the reintegration 0f the 320 patients, the Medical Director of Pantang stated that the hospital had challenges reconnecting patients who had fully recovered with their families.

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Some of the challenges, he says also stems from refusal of family members to reconnect with patients.

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According to him, the recovered patients represented about 70 per cent of the 500 patients who were on admission at the facility before 2016.

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“We do have these challenges of families refusing to come for their patients when they have recovered but we continue to develop the means to send the patients home rather than keeping them in a restricted facility.

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“We have very good community psychiatry and social welfare units at the hospital that liaise with the various districts across the country to ensure patients cured reconnect with their families,” he said.

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He, however, stated that through its community psychiatric and social welfare units the hospital has been able to put in place measures to intensify and enhance efforts to reintegrate the patients with their families through investigations on the background of patients.

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Dr Baning further added that the hospital as part of efforts to unite families has also introduced programs to orient relatives on how to manage the patient.

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“Sometimes, it is not the fault of the families; they just do not know how to manage and deal with the person. They lack understanding on how to manage the person because they are already frustrated.

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“And so, we do our best to orient them on how to manage the patient before we officially discharge the patient to them and we also do periodic follow-ups to ensure that patients are well taken care of,” he said.

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 Support for recovered patients

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The Medical Director of Pantang Hospital  mentioned that while on admission, were provided with a sustainable source of livelihood so that when discharged they would not become a burden to their families.

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“The Social Welfare Unit does an assessment to ascertain those that are trainable and those that are not. With some we need to engage a third person or a contact person in the family and equip that person to be able to care for the patient in question,” he said.

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In his quest to help patient transition smoothly into society, the medical director said the unit had an engagement with the German Development Agency (GIZ) to support patients who were undergoing skills training at the facility.

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“GIZ recently asked the unit to provide a list of patients and their details and what could be done or required to help them train,” he said.

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Dr Baning called on Ghana Enterprises Agency (GEA) for financial support for recovered patients.

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Source: The Independent Ghana

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