To help doctors and other
medical staff treating COVID-19 patients to cope with mental stress, an Assam-based NGO on Friday said it has launched a pan India platform to counsel such corona warriors.
Global Pandemic Response Forum (GPRF) has started a helpline 'Dhara' in seven different languages and tied up with more than 70 psychologists to counsel all the medical staff handling COVID-19 positive cases and other people like law enforcing agencies.
"The corona warriors are working day and night away from their family and friends and then they are going for 14 days quarantine. Excessive workload, stress, fear and anxiety of the disease have taken a toll on the mental health of a number of these warriors," it said.
To support the medical, paramedical and law enforcing people, 'Dhara' helpline was launched early this month in English and Assamese, while Bodo, Hindi, Marathi, Khasi and Bengali speaking counsellors have been added so far, GPRF said in a statement.
"Efforts to add Garo, Dimasa, Nepali, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada and international languages like French, Arabic, Spanish and Russian are currently underway. Dhara helpline number is +91 92054 67567 and is available 22 hours a day from 4 am to 2 am," it added.
There is a team of over 70 psychologists from across India, while 83 more are undergoing orientation and training on tele-counselling at present.
All these counsellors are working from home and contributing pro bono to this effort in handling the stress level of the frontline workers in this fight against the deadly novel coronavirus, the NGO said.
Commenting on the development, Dhara Helpline Project Head Dharitri Nath said, "At GPRF, we quickly realised the need for a mental health support system for our corona warriors. We decided upon a telephonic helpline, as it would be the most efficient counselling delivery tool, when isolation protocols are in place."
"We are adding more languages every week to Dhara Helpline and will soon be open for the general public across India," she added.
The NGO is currently talking to the governments and different organisations across the world leading the fight against COVID-19 to secure their partnership, endorsement and support for Dhara helpline, Nath said.
"We will continue our own efforts of public engagement to spread awareness about Dhara helpline among the healthcare leadership in India, down to the grassroots level, to be of service to the corona warriors," she added.
GPRF is currently exploring ways of making testings for COVID-19 possible for all and working on to create a resource centre for sharing of global best practices and response protocols to fight such pandemics.
It is also looking forward to collaborating with governments, private sector, other NGOs and community organisations to deploy COVID-19 response mechanisms, the statement said.
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