They said depression could be avoided if people moved from their routine activities to engage in entertainment events such as the “Ghana Must Laugh” comedy shows to “laugh off their stress.”
Data from the Upper West Regional Health Directorate indicates that depression cases in the region had been in the ascendency with 121 recorded in 2021, 189 in 2022 and 211 cases in 2023.
“Depression is one condition that one can easily avoid if we stay outside the routines and find moments to de-stress like the “Ghana Must laugh” show,” Mr Sylvester Basagnia, the Upper West Regional Mental Health Coordinator, said.
The participants gave the commendations in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Wa during the “Ghana Must Laugh” comedy show organised by the Bliss Eye Care, a private eye clinic, in Wa.
Seasoned Ghanaian comedians, Mr Emmanuel Nkansah Ansong, known in the entertainment industry as Lekzy DeComic and Dr. Amponsah Obarima Akuoko, also known as OB Amponsah, thrilled the participants with over two hours of rib-breaking comedy to enable them release stress and anxiety.
Medical doctors and directors, university staff and lecturers, development practitioners and civil and public servants in the Upper West Region and beyond attended the entertainment show, which was the first of its kind in the Upper West Region.
Hajia Shameema Issahaque, the Human Resource Director at the Dr Hilla Limann Technical University, described the programme as a “great stress reliever”.
“All the time it is always work and family, you don’t even get time to have fun”, she said, and recommended more of such events for the working class and corporate individuals to be available to have fun and release stress.
For Dr. Tony Basingnaa, the Manager of Bil Clinical Laboratories, due to their busy schedules they hardly make time to “have fun and laugh out their stress.”
He, therefore, lauded the “Ghana Must Laugh” show and said apart from its entertaining focus, it also created an avenue for people to meet and interact.
Dr. Zakarea Al-hassan Balure, the Manager of Bliss Eye Care, reiterated that good health was not just the absence of diseases, but a complete state of wellbeing including one’s mental health hence the need for people to take their mental health very seriously.
“Currently we know depression is on the high side, mental health issues are on the high side, and issues related to just not having any alternative but always sticking to one particular pattern of life is a good contributing factor to all these,” he explained.
Dr Balure explained that Bliss Eye Clinic organised the comedy show due to the year-long stress coupled with the December 7 election and the lack of such entertainment activities in the region.
On his part, Lekzy DeComic said comedy had been a major part of entertainment in the southern part of Ghana and commended Bliss Eye Care for organising the show in the region.
OB Amponsah observed that the event in the region was long overdue since the people in the region also “deserve some laughs.”
GNA
