COVID-19: Lack of Basic Facilities, Edible Food Aggravates Anxiety, Depression Among Quarantined Migrants in UP

Lucknow: “Pehle humein Pune me 14 din ke liye quarantine kiya gaya aur ab Balrampur me. Agar hamare liye chhoti-chhoti suvidhayein nahi kara sakte hain quarantine centre me to please humein call na karein, humein hamare hall par chod diya jaye! (First, we were quarantined for 14 days in Pune and now in Gonda. If you can not arrange even the basic facilities for us, then please don't call us, leave us to our fate!),” said Nilesh Chandra* (name changed), a 19-year-old migrant worker—his voice quivering—as he opened up to a physiatrist counselling people quarantined in Uttar Pradesh's Balrampur district.

Nilesh, along with his elder brother Dharmanshu* (name changed) (35), is quarantined at Saryu Adarsh Balika Inter College, Gonda. The duo worked in Pune and somehow managed to reach Kanpur and from there, they reached Gonda by a bus. Now, during the quarantine period, they are fighting depression and anxiety.

There has been a steep rise in patients with mental illnesses since the novel coronavirus outbreak. People living in quarantine centres in Uttar Pradesh are experiencing anxiety and depression, triggered further by the poor quality food, inadequate facilities, rise in unemployment and losses in businesses.

Explaining why migrants workers escaped an isolation centre, Ashok Kumar Patel, clinical psychologist in Balrampur, said that most of the people have lost their jobs; they are staying away from their family members and are not getting basic facilities. These people are prone to anxiety, depression, anger, irritability, insomnia and post-traumatic stress symptoms, he said.

"More than 5,000 people who have been quarantined at 130 different places in Balrampur are mostly daily wagers, students and a few among them are engineers and professional workers. They are worried about their job, businesses, family members and the way ill-treatment is meted out at the quarantine centres. If the administration provides quality food and good sanitary conditions and most importantly, if television sets are installed in these isolation wards to keep patients engaged and motivated, it would make a good routine for them and they will cooperate with the administration," said Patel.

He also said that he met an architect at one quarantine centre who is teaching the process of building a house to construction workers while a teacher at another centre tells motivational stories and teaches yoga.

"This is how we can engage and divert the mind of migrants or labourers and administration should focus on this,” added Patel.

‘Life In Prison Better Than Quarantine Centres’

Many staying at the quarantine centres have alleged that with no senior official visiting, the field staff is not taking their complaints seriously. They are being treated as if they are the ones who have spread COVID-19 across the country, they claimed. Most of the centres lack basic infrastructure like beds, bedsheets, toilets, drinking water facilities, washrooms and electricity backup.

Tinku Pandey, who has been quarantined along with his wife and two kids, are worried as the administration has not sanitised the centre so far and they have not been given even masks. “We are tested negative, but I am worried. My children walk in the mud and if they get infected, it would be very difficult for us to cope with," he added. Pandey added that he was picked up by the police and was told that he would be released after a few days. “But it has already been eight days and the administration is not letting us go home.”

Santosh Kumar has been kept in quarantine near a river in Rohua village of Gorakhpur district. "Yahan hume marne ke liye chhod diya gaya hai (We are left to die here). We have been given only candles by the sarpanch for light at night. If this continues, we will suffer from mental illnesses," Santosh told NewsClick.

Abhimanyu and others quarantined in Allahabad said that the anxious wait for their test reports and the possibility of contracting the infection in the absence of any social distancing norms is also exerting a toll on their mental health.

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Second Cycle of Quarantine

There are several migrants like Waseem and Anees who have completed their 18 days at the quarantine centre, but the administration is not allowing them to go home. They have been forced to go into quarantine for the second time in a row. “My mobile was stolen a few days back and even after spending more than 18 days, the administration is not letting me go home. My mother's health is deteriorating due to this," said Waseem, adding that he feels life in prison would be better than at this quarantine centre.

"It's been very worrying for drivers like me. I have to support my family and we have household expenses like groceries, school fees, etc. to take care of," said the father of two boys, aged three and five. His wife works as a domestic help.

Raju Pandit and Ram Prashad from Rasoolpur village of Balrampur district worked as daily wagers in Bhiwandi, Mumbai. They were first quarantined for 14 days in Kanpur and now in Balrampur for four days. "My husband, after leaving Mumbai, had already spent 14 days at a quarantine centre in Kanpur. When he came home, a notification came from the district administration saying that he has to go for a corona test again and when he stepped outside, he was quarantined forcefully despite his negative reports," said Laxmi Devi, wife of Raju Pandit.

In one instance, people at a Prayagraj centre on the outskirts of city had to throw the food supplied to them into the dustbin, as they claimed it was inedible. “It’s better to die hungry than eat the food being supplied here at the quarantine centre,” said one of the men put up there.

They also claimed that despite having spent 14 days at the shelter, they were unable to go home as the administration was not allowing them.

Dr, Ajay Kumar Mishra, a neuropsychiatrist based in Allahabad who visited two quarantine centres in the district on April 22 and counselled around 82 suspected cases of COVID-19, said that these patients experienced anxiety and depression. "People kept in quarantine and away from their families should regularly be checked for depression and other such mental concerns," he added.

Also read: Does a Mental Health Pandemic Loom Beyond Covid-19?