By Elizabth Larkwor Baah
Tema, Oct. 11, GNA – Dr Sally Quartey, the Director of Health Services, Tema Metro Health Directorate, has emphasised the need for organisations to recognise the importance of identifying, educating, and supporting the mental health of employees.
Dr Quartey said this could improve productivity and performance, enhance job satisfaction and engagement, and reduce absenteeism, which would ultimately benefit both employer and employee.
She said this during the commemoration of Mental Health Day at the Tema General Hospital on the theme: “It is time to prioritise mental health at the workplace,” which was chaired by Dr Frank Baning, a psychiatrist from the Pantang Psychiatric Hospital.
The programme was characterised with a drama by the health workers seeking to educate organisations to train their workers to identify and support the mental health of workers at workplaces.
She said the theme globally provided the opportunity to renew efforts to promote mental health awareness at workplaces.
She revealed that one in four Ghanaians experience mental health issues while 70 per cent of the cases remain untreated, adding that these disorders accounted for more than 10 per cent of the nation’s burden, with 19 per cent of those affected suffering from mental illness while some four per cent had some form of psychological distress.
Dr Quartey emphasised the need for the protection of employees’ mental health privacy by creating safe spaces for individuals to confidentially seek help without feeling stigmatised at workplaces.
She said regular training, provision of resources, and monitoring workload were some crucial steps organisations could adopt to create a conducive environment for their workers to thrive.
She mentioned that work practices that could be harmful to the health of workers, included long working hours without rest period, inadequate resources to work with, a hostile working environment, tight deadlines, and a lot more, could lead to mental health issues that further reduce productivity.
The Tema Metro Health Director encouraged employees to also take good care of their mental health, adding that awareness must also target the informal sector of the economy.
Mr Etornam Gbende, the Greater Accra Regional Mental Health Coordinator, stressed the need to fight the negative stereotypes that prevented people from seeking help, as it intensified feelings of shame and isolation at workplaces and elsewhere.
He emphasised promoting education, creating a more supportive and inclusive environment for mental health, and called for collectivity in raising awareness, education in schools, and communities, to ensure that stigmatisation was not attached to mental health.
Dr Augustine Quarshie, a Senior Physician and Head of Clinical Care at the Tema General Hospital, said about 600 patients averagely visited the facility daily, adding that 60 of those patients mostly needed care from the mental health unit.
He further disclosed that about three per cent of those referred to the mental health unit were medical staff within the hospital and from other health facilities.
He said prioritising mental health at workplaces was paramount to the well-being of the workers, stating that the hospital, over the years, had improved upon its psychiatric activities and would continue to improve its measures to ensure that mental health was well prioritised.
GNA