The Mental Health Association wants GOB to do more

The Mental Health Association (MHA) is calling on the government to do more to address the long-term needs of mentally challenged persons in Belize who may be a danger to themselves and others. The Association stated that the fatal shooting of Francis Ramos by a police officer in Belize City on Wednesday. The association says that assigning blame in the aftermath of the situation does not address the problem. They added that neither families of the victims nor the police should be blamed given the lack of resources and the current limitations of legislation to address the needs of the mentally ill. The Association says (quote) “Unfortunately, mental illness is rarely a priority and after a few days of finding people to blame, we tend to move on to other issues. This is not an isolated incident- there have been too many such tragic event”. (end of quote)