Accra, Nov. 27, - Mr Emmanuel Agbodeka, a Senior Staff at the
Accra Psychiatric Hospital has called on the Ghana Education Service to
establish guidance and counselling centres at all educational institutions to
provide timely interventions to students going through crises.
“Organisations must also employ
organisational psychologists to prepare employees who by no fault of theirs,
have to take on new responsibilities, go through demotions and transfers, as
well as employees earmarked for redundancy”, he added.
Mr Agbodeka made the call at the
weekend at a programme to mark the celebration of World Union of Catholic
Women’s Organisation (WUCWO) organised by the Accra Archdiocesan Council of
Catholic Women.
Speaking on: “Drug Abuse and
Suicide and how they can be Combated”, Mr Agbodeka believed that these
professionals must not be stationed only at these institutions, but must be
accessible to people who needed such services.
He commended parliament for
passing the Mental Health Law, but said a lot more needed to be done in terms
of education, human resources attraction and retention, and funding.
He tasked relevant government
agencies to train more psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses, clinical
psychologists, and addiction specialists to increase the number of
professionals in the field.
“Aside the training, better
remuneration, incentive packages and better conditions of service must be
provided to attract and retain qualified and competent staff to the field of
psychiatry.
The practice of psychiatry is
associated with risk of violence and injury to staff; and risk allowance must
be provided to take care of the risk staff are exposed to”, he recommended.
Mr Agbodeka noted that
criminalising suicide cases was detrimental to tackling the problem
effectively, saying it prevented the identification and starting of a
tailored-made intervention for people at high risk of suicide.
He said section 57 clause 2 of
the 1960 criminal code of Ghana clearly states that suicide (attempted or
completed) is a crime.
Mr Agbodeka was of the view that
the framers of this law wanted to deter people from opting for suicide, when
such people are at their lowest ebb.
“Suicide or attempted suicide is
a ‘cry for help’ and people who venture to take that option need our compassion
and sympathy, which is a mark of a humane society”.
He said drug abuse and drug
addiction were global problems affecting the health of nations, destroying
societies, families and individuals and all must be concern to addressing the
menace.
He called on government to expose
illegal drug dealers to authorities and the uninformed addicts to be treated
and rehabilitated at appropriate hospitals and centres.
Reverend Father Emmanuel Obeng
Cudjoe, the Spiritual Director, Accra Catholic Women Council, urged catholic
women to join the council to network as a family, and organise programmes of
national interest.
He dispelled the notion that the
Council was set up to collapse the society saying ‘we love our society than the
church but the society exists because of the church’.
Mrs Margaret Yeboah, President of
the Accra Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women, said every five years, the WUCWO
sends a theme with subtopics to the Women Councils worldwide to deliberate on
and grow in the church as well as help families, country and the world.
She said the theme for this year
was “Women, Sowers of Hope”, which emphasised the need to sow seed of hope in
homes, workplaces, churches and everywhere they found themselves.
GNA
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