The Deputy Minister of Social Welfare and Psycho-social PillarLeader for the Emergency Response Centre (EOC), Mohamed Haji Kella, has remarked that Psycho-social counseling especially for patients plays a crucial role in combating the deadly Coronavirus in the Sierra Leone.
He made this statement while he described the aim and objectives of the Psycho-social pillar established by the Emergency Response Center during a radio show talk show.
According to Kella the country is using the integrative method of psycho-social counseling, that comprises bereavement support and counseling, which had been introduced during the Rebel War, and had also been used in the wake of natural disasters that occurred in the country, on Coronavirus patients.
“Persons in treatment and isolation centres are mostly considered when giving out psycho -social support, because they are mostly battling with despair and regrets having contacted the virus, “he said.
He mentioned that some persons in isolation and treatment centres develop distress and anxiety, because they are sometimes kept there more than the time necessary for quarantine due to other underlying factors.
He explained that swabs of persons in quarantined homes are normally taken on the twelfth day of the required 14 day-quarantine period for testing, and added, “ if some of the results came out to be positive, the quarantine process starts afresh.”
He pointed out that frontline healthcare workers need to be very professional when dealing with persons in quarantine, because they ought to understand the ins and outs of patients’ emotional wellbeing, in which positive thinking is integral.
He revealed that there were mechanism in place to ensure that persons in Quarantine homes do not over stay in isolation after their timeline expires, unless situation makes this necessary.
“When patients are faced with distress there are various remedies provided by the EOC to ease stress of person in Quarantine homes through counseling,” he said, and admitted that during the primarily stages of the fight against COVID-19 there had been loopholes in information management, but mechanism have been put in place with stringent policies that criminalizes leaking the identity of patients positive with COVID-19.
He also noted that during the course of rendering Psycho-social counseling to patients through the 117 toll line, data protection and confidentiality of patients should be ensured as they are key principle in any human counselling.
He commended the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) for deeming it necessary to include mental health workers, other caregivers and defenders in case another problem arise while been treated for Coronavirus.
By George M.O. Williams
15/6/2020. ISSUE NO.: 7845