Thieves steal safe containing money for Ankaful Psychiatric Hospital

Thieves have ripped out a heavy metal safe containing an undisclosed amount of money from a concrete wall within the administration block of the Ankaful Psychiatric Hospital in the Central Region.

The incident was suspected to have happened Monday night.

Workers reported to work Tuesday morning to find three offices within the administration block broken into and the safe removed from a wall in the accountant’s office and taken away together with a revenue bag.

The thieves also stole a phone from the acting director’s office, and a laptop as well as a phone from the registrar’s office, our correspondent Kwame Kakraba reported.

“Our offices were broken into. The accountant office was broken into and an entire safe was carried out of the office overnight,” acting director of the hospital, Dr Kwadwo Obeng told our correspondent Wednesday.

He expressed concern about insufficient security at the facility which he said has been confronted with land encroachment.

The hospital, he said, has only six security officers who run a shift system, noting at every particular time, there are only three of them on duty. That, he said, is inadequate considering the size of the hospital.

“Fortunately, no client or staff was injure in this incident but I think it highlight the problem of lack of security of this facility. This time they didn’t meet anybody; this time they just wanted to collect items but what if their intentions are more dangerous next time?” he stated.

Dr Obeng observed that encroachers on their land have created illegal exits at the facility exposing them to security risks.

He said just behind one of their male wards, the lands have been sold to people who now demarcating the area for development.

He has advised those who have bought lands area “o advise themselves against further developing of this land” to avoid losing their investment in the long run.

Meanwhile, Dr Obeng has appealed to government to take urgent steps to safeguard the security of the staff and patients of the hospital.