The Director of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital (APH), Dr. Pinaman Appau, has asked Ghanaians to disregard claims that the land that houses the facility has been sold to private developers.
Dr. Pinaman Appau explained that the APH has rather been earmarked for a redevelopment project under the Agenda 111 program, which will begin in September 2022.
The re-development project according to the hospital’s director will take a year and a half to be completed.
Dr. Appau further stated that the facility currently has about 320 patients, adding that they have begun intensifying repatriation of some of them.
“To the best of the knowledge of management, no part of this land has been sold, nor is it going to be sold. What we know is that there is going to be a redevelopment project that we have been informed of since 2017. We are not relocating. We are just moving our services from one part of the facility to another for the re-development to go on.”
Meanwhile, Dr. Pinaman also explained the rationale behind the downsizing of the hospital’s bed capacity after the redevelopment project.
“The facility is being downsized from a 600 capacity bed to a 220 capacity bed because we do not want huge mental health facilities, as it is the best practice in mental health care across the world. We are bringing the service to the communities, to your doorsteps. So, the facilities will be taking care of more specialized cases.”
Over the past weeks, rumors had it that the Accra Psychiatric Hospital will be relocating as the land has been sold, a report disputed by the Director.
