Mental health issues among doctors on rise
Positivity rate in guest workers for Covid-19 is more than 20 per cent in India due to their immune compromised state after walking hundreds of miles, malnutrition, which is ever present and often being asymptomatic carriers of infection.
In the states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, the rate of positivity is as high as 26 per cent, while in states of south India the positivity is low at 3 to 4 per cent as they are returning mainly from clusters in Maharashtra, especially Mumbai.
The accommodation that guest labourers can afford on their meagre salaries is poor. Some 1015 people are crammed into one living space, living, sleeping and eating in cramped spaces where social distancing is a joke.
Yet distancing is one of the major factors for controlling the infection, and it’s something impossible for poor people to do in cities, when the lockdown does not permit people to even sit outside.
Dr K.K. Aggarwal, former president of the Indian Medical Association, said guest labourers have moved from huge living clusters where there is a possibility for them to be asymptomatic carriers of Covid-19. “Testing and isolating them is important so that the infection does not spread further. Many of them will have only mild symptoms and they will not require hospitalisation. They are a most vulnerable and exposed population and they have to be duly protected and respected,” Dr Aggarwal said.
Their high level of vulnerability is due to their history of travel for hundreds of kilometres where they are exposed to multiple places. Their immune compromised state is due to malnutrition making them susceptible to the virus.
Dr Mustufa Afzal, senior infectious disease specialist with Care Hospitals, says, “Most workers are asymptomatic carriers which is the main cause of infection. They have walked without proper food and water. Shelter was only close to the highways or railway tracks. Many of them are middle aged and may not be aware of having a medical condition such as hypertension and diabetes. These factors are now coming to the fore once they contract the infection. Hence the rate of positivity is high in them.”
The continuous stress of walking, urge to return home and inability to secure work due to the lockdown resulting in lack of income has added to their physical and mental stress, making them more susceptible. Social distancing is not an option and in the era of Covid-19 that is an invitation to the disease.