Tema-Ghana, June 19, CDA Consult – As part of efforts to encourage healthy living among its personnel, the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) renovated the sports hall in Tema Community Two.
According to information available to the Communication for Development and Advocacy Consult (CDA Consult) in Tema, the hall, which has been in use for more than ten years, has been renovated with new gym equipment to complement the old ones.
Speaking at the event, the GPHA’s General Manager in Charge of Estate and Environment, Mr. James Benjamin Gaisie, claimed that the sports hall features a badminton court that is occasionally utilised for events by the National Badminton Association.
According to Mr. Gaisie, encouraging a healthy lifestyle among the workforce is a key component of the GPHA’s “Creating a Sustainable Health and Fitness Culture for the Port.” He added that management has made significant investments to ensure the workforce’s health and wellbeing.
He added that his management would explore establishing budgetary preparations in the future to enhance the facility whenever it was necessary, adding that the port authority viewed sports activity to be essential to the physical, emotional, and social welfare of port community members.
He added that the GPHA had supplied gym facilities for the guards and firemen at the port in addition to the sports hall for their regular workouts.
The GPHA workers participated in a 3-kilometer health walk from the main assembly place in the Tema Port to the sports complex, where they finished with an hour of aerobics, in conjunction with the opening of the renovated sports hall.
The Tema Port’s Marketing and Public Affairs Manager, Ms. Abena Serwaa Opoku Fosu, stated that the health walk represented the restart of the GPHA’s quarterly health walk, which had been suspended owing to the COVID-19 epidemic.
The organisation prioritises the health of its employees, and Ms. Fosu, who is also the chairperson of the GPHA’s Sports and Entertainment Committee, asked all employees to take time off to participate in such health activities.
The GPHA Clinic’s medical officer, Dr. Hannah-Lisa Tetteh, claimed that physical activity offers numerous advantages besides the weight loss that most people identify it with.
Dr. Tetteh claimed that exercise had certain cardio-vascular advantages as well as benefits for people’s moods, energy levels, and endurance.
She continued by saying that it raises good cholesterol while lowering bad cholesterol, and that this results in better blood flow, which aids the body in fending off lifestyle diseases like diabetes and hypertension.
“Exercise enhances a variety of cognitive processes, protects the brain, and enhances sleep. I advise individuals to try exercise first when they visit the hospital to ask for sleeping pills, she said.
She added that exercise improves response speed, which is advantageous for both office workers who lead sedentary lifestyles and those who work in a physically demanding setting like the port.
