Unseen in the past, many women now coming with booze addiction: Doctors

PANAJI: Doctors across the state have flagged a rise in alcohol addiction among women, a problem that has come to light now that several are seeking medical help.
“Since the Covid-19 lockdowns, we’ve noted a rise in incidence of drinking among women,” said senior psychiatrist Dr Rajesh Dhume, who is the nodal officer of the addiction treatment facility (ATF), North Goa district hospital.
He said that women take to drinking possibly because of discord in the family, job loss, or disturbed interpersonal relations. “They (women) now come for treatment, something which we have not seen in the past,” he said.
If over the years, the drinking habit among women remained largely hidden from public view, it’s because they drank in secret, doctors said.
GMC and the North Goa district hospital also see a lot of women admitted with alcohol-related problems. “A gender bias doesn’t exist when it comes to alcoholism,” said GMC’s professor of surgery, Dr Rajesh Patil. “We have women patients coming to us bleeding, vomiting blood, and with liver cirrhosis,” he said. “When the patient’s history is taken, her addiction comes to light.”
Dhume said that young women today consume drinks with a higher alcohol content, and that could be problematic.
Most women patients are in the age bracket of 35 to 55, similar to men with drinking problems.
Doctors said that a majority of women patients who seek help are from lower economic backgrounds, and who are in Goa for work. However, it should not be inferred that Goan women do not drink and that there is no problem here, they say. “Around 80% of our women patients are outsiders. But it doesn’t mean Goan women don’t drink, they are shy to come to us for treatment,” Dhume said. “Outsiders approach us because of the anonymity they enjoy in Goa.”
The North Goa district hospital sees women patients largely from West Bengal, Jharkhand, and Nepal, most of whom work in the tourism sector.
“Some of them do house-keeping jobs in villas owned by people from outside Goa,” he said. Many times, both husband and wife have a drinking problem. “Sometimes, it’s the husband who brings his wife to hospital, and vice versa,” he said.
Patil also said that they see men and women who work in distilleries — where there’s easy access to alcohol — developing drinking habits.