SRINAGAR, BHOPAL AND RANCHI: Discrimination and depression are being faced both by Covid patients and those who have recovered, with some of them even taking the extreme step of ending their lives as they are unable to cope up with the pressure.
In Madhya Pradesh’s Indore city, a 79-year-old man allegedly jumped to death from the fourth floor of the government-run Maharaja Tukojirao Hospital on Wednesday morning. The man was admitted to the hospital on April 24 on suspicion of Covid-related pneumonia. The man jumped from hospital's fourth floor and fell on the window shed of the second floor.
According to the Hospital's in-charge Dr VP Pandey, the septuagenarian was admitted on the suspicion of being afflicted with COVID-19 related pneumonia but later his samples tested negative. “It's possible that the patient would have been under acute depression, but it was never manifested before the hospital staff,” a source at the hospital said
Three such cases have been reported from Jharkhand. While a 19-year old-migrant at Garhwa committed suicide after being asked to go into quarantine, another person ended his life in Ranchi because he was quarantined. The third case was reported from Giridih where the victim hanged himself because he was under the impression that he had contracted the infection.
According to some senior psychiatrists, anxiety and depressive disorders are increasing in the lockdown because people are being asked to stay out of their normal routine with which they are not accustomed to. “If the person is financially and emotionally weak, his condition will be different as restrictions and the news involved with quarantine plays an important role in creating the stigma,” said Dr Nishant Goyal.
The already tense situation in Kashmir coupled with stigma and discrimination is making it tough for those who have recovered from Covid. The J&K government issued an advisory in which it urged people not to discriminate or stigmatize any Covid patient.
Taking note of this situation, Dr Naveed Nazir Shah of a hospital at Dalgate appealed people not to discriminate such individuals. “Unfortunate that the recovered COVID patients are being stigmatised. Please treat them as normal,” Shah tweeted.