JAIPUR: The Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdown have negatively affected the mental health of scores of people as stress, depression and suicidal tendencies are increasingly becoming common. To address the issue, Congress MLA from Jodhpur Manisha Panwar has set up a special Help Centre to extend a helping hand to the people in need.
Every evening, Manisha’s office in the city’s prime area of Sardarpura is turned into a special Mental Health Center. Mental health specialists, social activists, and advocates visit the centre to help the depressed people. The MLA also spares time for the health centre every day. She asserts, “In this critical period, we try to help anyone who is battling stress or depression for any reason. It is our social duty to ensure that any person who is facing anxiety should be able to come to this center and get some relief.”
The help desk at the MLA’s office is open from 4 to 5 pm every day. During this period, besides the MLA herself, Kriti Bharti works as a psychiatrist, Mukul Parihar as a psychologist, Ajay Trivedi as a social activist, and Umesh Vyaas and Shabnam Bano work as a team of advocates.
Last week, a family of three committed suicide in Jodhpur as they were facing acute financial troubles. Fifty-year-old Rajendra Suthar, his wife Indira (47), and son Nitin (23) had committed suicide. In the note they left behind, the trio talked about how their furniture business had slumped due to the lockdown and how it was now impossible for them to repay those who had given them loans at high-interest rates.
Panwar says that suicides are no solution to the problems and her Health Center aims to provide help to such families and individuals so that such tragedies are not repeated in Jodhpur.
Kriti Bharti, social activist and one of the councillors at the centre, says that the prevalence of mental health issues tend to be higher in urban areas. While there may be many causative factors for this reality, declining social support in the nuclear families and restricted social networking due to Covid-19 are among the most important reasons. "The common signs and symptoms of depression and anxiety need to be discussed openly so that anybody who starts facing such problems will be able to identify, accept, and seek help. Lack of knowledge aggravates the problem,” she said.
The Mental Health Center started functioning from Monday and already. The health centre also plans to start an awareness campaign in the city to help people recognize and treat their mental stress issues.