The COVID-19 crisis is getting worse in America and various European, Middle East, West Asian, and Mediterranean countries, amply demonstrating how inter-dependent we are, says World Psychiatric Association (WPA) secretary general Roy Abraham Kallivayalil.
Talking to The Hindu here on Friday, Dr. Kallivayalil said the 140 WPA branches across the world were planning to launch tele-counselling free of cost in the affected countries.
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In an email communication, Manon Charbonneau, Assistant Clinical Professor at University of Montreal, wrote to Dr. Roy: “I help out by doing telephonic consultation with my patients from home. We will be setting up videoconferencing facility to attend to new patients and others who need our help. We are web-mailing prescriptions for patients to pharmacists with an electronic signature. My husband, Daniel, an anesthesiologist, is on the frontline setting up protocols for nurses, family physicians, respiratory therapists, etc. to prepare them to intervene safely.’’
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Another email from Said Fattah, psychiatrist in the French city of Rouffach, said: “I also consider myself at war, on the front, against a “maquisard [a member of a French guerilla group during the German occupation] virus” because I run a day hospital in Mulhouse, the eastern French city where there are more COVID-19 cases.”
Concerted effort
According to Dr. Roy, our medical, public health, political, economic, and educational institutions have to work together to face this global threat.
He said there were attempts to trivialise this viral disease, treating it like a ‘flu-like illness’ that was likely to disappear soon, at the beginning. But, COVID-19 has proved more devastating to the humanity as a whole.
Emotional needs
The healthcare systems are overworked and we have to prevent it from crumbling down. The mental health and emotional needs of all those who suffer from COVID-19, those who are quarantined, their families, and also of the health providers should be addressed. Persons with psychiatric disorders were especially at risk in these challenging times, he said.
He said all 140 member-societies of the WPA across the world were involved in this fight against COVID-19, especially to manage the psycho-social consequences and emotional impacts.
