Mumbai’s Nair hospital launches mental health helpline for its Covid patients

Mumbai Central-based BYL Nair Hospital has become the first civic-run medical college to start a mental health helpline wherein in-house Covid patients and their relatives can call exclusively for counselling

Mumbai Central-based BYL Nair Hospital has become the first civic-run medical college to start a mental health helpline wherein in-house Covid patients and their relatives can call exclusively for counselling.

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The helpline number —8828315805 — was launched on Thursday in association with Naraindas Morbai Budhrani Trust.

Nair hospital’s ‘Virtual Counselling and Mental Health support for Covid-19 patients and caregivers’ will be functional between 9am and 7pm everyday. It will be manned by six psychologists from the trust who have been trained by the psychiatry team of the hospital.

“Our psychiatry department has started this helpline with Budhrani Trust. During the training, we provide them [patients and their relatives] reading materials to acquire knowledge about Covid-19. Any infected patient who gets admitted to the hospital or any suspected patient with Covid-19 symptoms who visit the out-patient department (OPD) for check-ups can call at the helpline number for counselling. This helpline number is dedicated only to the hospital’s patients and their relatives,” said Dr Henal Shah, head of the department, psychiatry, Nair Hospital.

However, in case anyone who is not associated with the hospital calls on the helpline, the psychologists will not refuse them help.

A poster near the emergency ward and OPD, with the helpline number, reads, ‘It’s normal to feel sad, stressed, fearful or angry during a situation crisis. Talk to people you trust and get relieved.”

Speaking to HT, Tushar Yarmal, programme manager of the trust, said, “The number of Covid-19 cases has doubled in the second wave, which has increased anxiety and fear among people. In the first wave, we had started a helpline number focusing on the dissemination of authentic information to the public. Now, with this new helpline number, we want to focus only on counselling.”

Amid the pandemic, several psychiatrists and non-government organisations (NGOs) have started various helpline numbers.

King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital, along with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), also runs two Covid-19 helpline numbers. But unlike Nair hospital, staff at KEM make calls to the patients to check on their health and callers can’t ring them.

“We have an in-house helpline number where we call the kin of the admitted patients at KEM Hospital for counselling. We maintain the data bank of all the admitted patients. Then the second helpline is run in association with BMC where we call the recovered Covid-19 patients for counselling outside KEM,” Dr Ajita S Nayak, head of psychiatry department, KEM Hospital, said.

Lokmanya Tilak General and RN Cooper hospitals do not have any helpline solely dedicated for patients suffering from Covid-19.

A psychiatrist at Cooper Hospital said, “We are managing the department with four-five doctors. With this strength, we have to attend Covid-19 patients, counsel them and also handle the department. We don’t have the manpower to launch such a helpline number.”

Doctors have said that Covid-19 not only affects patients’ physical health but takes a toll on their mental well-being. Patients who are kept in isolation and intensive care units (ICU) often develop mental ailments such as anxiety and depression, which continue to linger long after they are discharged from the hospital.

Recently, urban development minister Eknath Shinde also suggested that psychiatric help should be provided to patients.