CHENNAI: A national mental health survey that was done before the pandemic shows that about 70-85 per cent of people with diagnosable mental illnesses don’t receive any treatment. After the pandemic, the demand for mental health aid has only gone up but the supply (availability of mental health professionals and treatments) has remained the same.
The COVID-19 crisis has only exasperated these problems,” said Dr Soumitra Pathare of Centre for Mental Health Law and Policy, addressing a virtual audience as part of Asia Society India Centre’s talk series. The three-part series aimed to understand the impact of COVID-19 on the mental wellbeing of three vulnerable groups — children, women and the elderly. The second session focused on understanding the disproportionate mental health risks faced by women since the pandemic.
“When the pandemic stretched across, there was a certain crowding out. In such situations, we have to look at the intersectionalities. For instance, if you are a man — a man from an urban setting — you have a better chance of accessing mental health services,” he said, pointing to how the chances dwindle as we move to the fringes of the demographic. “If you are an urban woman, your chances are less. The struggle to access these services become further elusive if you are a Dalit woman, a Dalit woman from a rural background. So, it is important to contextualise these themes and focus on intersectionality,” he said.
Sharing case studies and anecdotes of women who were not offered support during the pandemic was Dr Prabha Chandra, professor of psychiatry, National Institue of Mental Health and Neurosciences. “We, as a system, didn’t give these women enough support. We did not prepare for the various social issues that came with the pandemic,” she said.
During the Covid crisis, women were also the victims of information asymmetry. “There was misinformation — women can cause more spread than men, pregnant women have more propensity to spread the virus... even during the pandemic, women weren’t spared from the marginalisation. Millions of women were isolated as a result of misinformation and information asymmetry,” noted Mrinalini. The risk of abuse among homeless women increased multifold during the pandemic, and issues of access to basic amenities like toilets too were detrimental to their mental health. “Homeless women with mental health issues lost reproductive rights too,” she added.
Concurring, Dr Prabha, said, “Most women in non-urban areas get pregnant within a year of their marriage and they are not given a say in their own mental and reproductive health issues.” Pointing to the problems with health relief programmes and insurance schemes, she added, “There are many schemes on paper. I work in a government hospital and for those with a below poverty line card (BPL), free treatment is rendered. For women, availing of this has been a task.
For women, their names in the BPL card moves from their parents to their husbands, post marriage.” If, at the time of treatment, a woman’s name doesn’t reflect on her husband’s card, she cannot avail of any treatment. “So, there are schemes but, unfortunately, women are deprived of them due to such statuses. They are not just deprived of food but also of health rights. Why should the status for these entitlements and rights be linked to marriage?” she asked, leaving the audience to reflect on the invisible pandemic that has waged a war in the lives of millions of women across the country.
The full session can be viewed on Asia Society India Centre’s Facebook page.