SRIKAKULAM: To assist patients under quarantine, District Collector J Nivas has launched psychiatric treatment and counselling call centre in the district. Three psychiatrists are available 24x7 to advise people under quarantine. Great Eastern Medical School Medical College and Hospital professors (Psychiatry) Dr Abhinaya, Dr Sai Lahari and Dr Surya Kumari have been extending these services to quarantined persons, especially foreign returnees. As many as 524 people are under quarantine at home and the quarantine centres in the district.“Most of the quarantined persons have anxiety issues. I have received about 15 calls from people under home quarantine in the district and two calls from Karnataka,” said GEMS hospital senior psychiatric specialist Dr Surya Kumari.
“I am getting not less than 2 to 3 calls from the quarantined persons daily,” said Dr Sai Lahari. She revealed that some alcoholics under quarantine in the district are showing withdrawal symptoms. “Family members have noticed changes in the behaviour of the alcoholics who are under quarantine. Majority of the callers ask how long they should be in quarantine and will the period of quarantine extend after two weeks,” she added. “Anxiety, depression, frustration and other psychiatric related problems are likely to quarantined people,” she asserted. Majority of the foreign returnees in the district are daily wage workers and skilled labourers and many of them are said to be addicted to alcohol. With the announcement of the lockdown, all wine shops and bars have been closed across the State.
Doctors say alcoholic addicts will show withdrawal symptoms if they stop alcohol consumption suddenly. Unable to stay under quarantine, some foreign returnees had violated the quarantine norms and came on to the roads. Similarly, some others tried to escape from the home isolation. “I have been under self quarantine for past 12 days,” said, a foreign returnee from a village in Ichchapuram mandal. Speaking to TNIE over phone, he said he was in a state of depression. “What will happen to me and my family members after the incubation period? Can we get test negative for Covid-19?” he asked. With the fear of Covid-19, he is keeping a distance from his family members, including children.
“Anxiety, depression and frustration related feelings are likely among the quarantined people, especially the alcoholic addicts,” said Covid-19 psychiatric call centre in-charge Dr Abhinaya. She said that she had been receiving two to three calls daily for the past few days. “There are three stages for the psychiatric disorders -- mild, moderate and severe. Alcoholic addicted persons under quarantine may suffer from neurological disorders if they stop consumption of alcohol in the initial phase. Anxiety, depression and frustration can lead to many complications, including unnecessary quarrels with family members and others. In mild cases, we have been providing counselling through phone. In the moderate and severe cases, patients need immediate treatment by medical experts,” she added. “Compared to normal people, psychiatric related problems will develop rapidly in alcohol addicts. We give more focus on the alcoholics under quarantine,” she said.