Spare a thought for frontline health workers

Oman Tuesday 13/October/2020 12:37 PM
By: Times News Service
Spare a thought for frontline health workers

Muscat: With the healthcare workers coming under tremendous stress during the COVID-19 pandemic, they are suffering from anxiety and insomnia, an official from the Health Ministry said,  adding a number of medical staff now need  psychological support.

"The health teams in hospitals have come under great psychological pressure and need support from everyone during the corona period. A large number of health staff  are suffering from anxiety and even depression ," Dr. Nawal Al Mahjiri, Head of the Psychosomatic Medicine Unit at the Royal Hospital confirmed in an interview to Oman TV.

Dr. Faryal Al Lawati, Head of the communicable diseases unit at Royal Hospital said: "The number of medical professionals suffering from anxiety and insomnia and needing psychological care, has increased recently. There is a limit to which they can stretch  themselves."
"If people  can't  wear a mask for one hour, not desist from gatherings, then how can they expect the medical staff to wear masks and medical kits throughout the day," Al Lawati added.

Dr Faryal stressed: "There is good cooperation among all of us as we all are colleagues.The Ministry officials regularly visit us and boost our morale."

"What we have learnt  from the corona pandemic during the past few months is that don't rely  only  on medicines for cure, rather than follow the  health safety measures. In addition to that we must realise that the effectiveness of the expected coronavirus vaccine ranges only between 40-50 per cent," she explained.