A sod-cutting ceremony has been performed for the construction of a mental health unit for the Eastern Regional Hospital at Koforidua.
The GH¢1.3 million project, named the Nana Owiredu Wadie I Mental Health Unit (MHU), a 35-bed capacity facility within the hospital, will take proper care of people battling mental health issues and substance and drug abuse.
When completed, it will consist of a male ward, female ward, consulting rooms, female surgical block, special ward, nurses' station, nurses' work area, in charge office, injection rooms, pharmacy, female changing room, circulation, kitchen and places of convenience, among others.
The project is being executed by Kabaka Foundation, owned by the Nkosuohene of Kwahu-Nkwatia, Nana Owiredu Wadie I.
The facility is scheduled to be completed within a year.
Alleviate suffering
At the sod-cutting ceremony at the hospital's premises last Friday, Nana Wadie I said he decided to undertake the project when he observed the increasing number of youth who were under the influence of substances and drug abuse.
He said he believed that building the facility would put smiles on the faces of such unfortunate people, especially children living with mental health conditions in the region.
Nana Wadie pledged to hand over the new facility to the hospital authorities on his next birthday in 2026.
The Aburihene, who is also the Adontenhene of Akuapem, Otoobour Djan Kwasi, urged the youth to desist from using illicit drugs, noting that such substances negatively affect their health and cut short their future.
He commended Nana Wadie for his commitment towards supporting mental healthcare delivery, as well as providing general healthcare services to the people in the region and Ghana as a whole.
Gratitude
The Medical Director of the hospital, Dr Arko Akoto-Ampaw, said after seeing the good work of the Kabaka Foundation when it gave the hospital’s intensive care unit (NICU) a facelift, the hospital asked the foundation to put up more structures, including a mental health unit.
Dr Akoto-Ampaw said he was happy that the Kabaka Foundation had responded positively to the hospital's request for a NICU and, therefore, decided to put up a mental health unit to help address mental health issues in the region, since the hospital was a referral facility.
He thanked Nana Wadie and the foundation for the assistance and appealed to other philanthropists, as well as well-to-do Ghanaians, to emulate his good example.
The Head of Mental Health Unit at the Eastern Regional Hospital, Dr Gyanwa Opare-Addo, who was highly elated about the new facility to be put up, said it would go a long way to help improve mental healthcare delivery.
Overcrowding
She indicated that the mental health unit facility at the hospital was too small and could not accommodate more people who were suffering from mental health issues.
That, Dr Opare-Addo stated, impeded quality healthcare delivery and at the same time led to overcrowding of the already existing facility.
"Mental health is health and every Ghanaian deserves access to mental health care without stigmatisation," Dr Opare-Addo stated.
Some of the excited patients at the hospital told the Daily Graphic that their suffering would soon come to an end with the provision of a new mental health facility.
