Mental health professionals as ‘silent frontline healthcare workers’: Perspectives from three South Asian countries Shoib Sheikh1*, Gupta Anoop Krishna2, Ahmad Waleed3, Joseph Shijo John4, Bhandari Samrat Singh4 1Jawahar Lal Nehru Memorial Hospital, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India 2National Medical College, Birgunj, Nepal 3Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences, Peshawar Medical College, Mercy Teaching Hospital, Peshawar, Pakistan 4Department of Psychiatry, Sikkim Manipal Institute of Medical Sciences, Gangtok, Sikkim, India *Correspondence: Sheikh Shoib, Department of Psychiatry, Jawahar Lal Nehru Memorial Hospital (JLNMH), Rainawari, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, 190003, India, sheikhsh0ib22@gmail.com
Online Published on 11 April, 2022. Abstract Mental health professionals across the globe foresaw the mental health impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. They have faced scarcity of trained professionals, rising morbidities, lack of protective gear, shortage of psychotropic drugs, and poor rapport building due to masking and social distancing. Amidst all, they have responded with approaches that focus on continuing mental health services to the patients already in care, education of the vulnerable people to help them cope with these stressors, and provide counselling services to patients and families affected by the pandemic. Top Keywords Impact, COVID-19 pandemic, Masking, Social Distancing, Counselling. Top |