KOZHIKODE: “I have been coughing for the past 24 hours. Am I infected?”, asks an anxious caller. Another wants to know whether the dust on the road outside their house would transmit the virus.
The calls, made to the psychosocial workers through helplines under the State Mental Health Programme (SMHP) are mostly from citizens who are ridden with fear regarding COVID-19. So far, the workers have received 1,569 calls. According to them, most of the people face anxiety and sleep impairment, a result of the fear.
Of the calls received, so far, 439 callers had anxiety, of which 282 are from Kozhikode. As many as 427 persons were experiencing stress. Most, at least 163, are from Ernakulam; 163.
Of the 119 calls by people who faced sleep impairment, 64 of them were from Ernakulam district. The State Mental Health Programme is presently focusing on offering psychosocial support to home quarantined people and has made calls to 35,312 people across the state under home quarantine as on Tuesday.
In Kozhikode, as many as 6,033 people benefited from their initiative, the highest so far. The mental support is being provided by SMHP in association with Women and child development department and National Health Mission (NHM).
According to Dr Soumya Raj, Nodal Officer, District Mental Health Programme (DMHP) in Ernakulam, several of the callers, who were under home quarantine, were feeling the stigma associated with the disease.
“Many say though they have completed the home quarantine period, the society is reluctant to accept them even after that,” she said. Of the 1400 calls received from Ernakulam daily, 27 people have said they have felt the stigma. Meanwhile, the Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (IMHANS) has also set up 25 dedicated teams for providing support. So far, the workers have received over 100 calls from across the state.