Coping with the loss of a loved one is difficult. It has become tougher during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a bid to reach out to families who have lost a relative to COVID-19, the Government Medical College Hospital, Omandurar Estate, is all set to extend grief counselling on its campus.
A team of five psychiatrists and a social worker in psychology will be available to help family members, according to R. Jayanthi, dean of Government Medical College Hospital, Omandurar Estate.
“Grief counselling is crucial. We can help by counselling the family members on the acceptance of the news of the sudden loss of a relative especially in such stressed-out conditions. If done professionally, we can help them overcome overwhelming grief. It will be handled by our professor of psychiatry,” she said.
The service will be available at a desk where the hospital has also put up an LED board to inform relatives about the health status of patients diagnosed with COVID-19 and those undergoing treatment at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
“One of the main necessities for attenders was to know the patient’s condition. The Chief Minister had convened a State-level NGO coordination committee meeting. Soon after this, we had volunteers. We installed an LED board to give relatives the status of patients in the ICU. We have 200 beds on four floors,” she said. On the LED board, the name of the patient along with their clinical status is displayed.
This was meant only for critically ill bed-ridden patients, while others communicated to their families over the phone, she said, adding: “We are updating the information twice a day -- at 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. We are soon planning to update every hour. We have categorised patients as stable, critical and very critical. This is only basic information. If families want more information, we have dedicated phone numbers. They can call or send an SMS from their homes. We have supporting volunteers from The Banyan through the committee, who will get the information about the patients and pass it on to the families,” she said.
Dr. Jayanthi said that the services were on a dry run as of now, and will be launched by the Minister for Medical and Family Welfare shortly.