Ho, Jan. 19, GNA - Psychiatric cases reported at the Ho Municipal Hospital increased from 1,783 in 2006 to 1,920 in 2007, authorities said on Friday.

Miss Mabel Klutse of the hospital's Psychiatric Unit told the Ghana News Agency in an interview that psychosis topped the list of cases reported in the past two years.

She said in 2006, 87 new cases of psychosis were reported while 135 new cases were recorded in 2007. Others are epilepsy and neurosis. Miss Klutse said the increase use of narcotics was a major contributor to the increase in psychiatric cases among the youth, citing the cases of six Junior High School students in 2007 who admitted using drugs, including cocaine.

She said the high use of alcohol, stress from family problems especially, spousal disagreements and love relationships going sour, were responsible for the rise in mental cases in the municipality. Miss Klutse said women accounted for the majority sufferers in stress related cases.

She complained that the Unit, established in 1976, was facing problems of insufficient staff, shortage of drugs and inadequate facilities. She narrated how she was attacked and given a "terrible blow" in the eye by a demented patient she was handling alone, expressing regrets that she had to bear the cost of treatment of her injuries.