By Nayak Paudel
Kathmandu, Sept. 26: A study conducted by the Nepal Health Research Council on the recovered COVID-19 patients in Nepal has shown that over 80 per cent of the recovered ones were healthy enough to continue with their household chores and professional jobs.
According to a press statement issued by the Nepal Health Research Council (NHRC), the study was conducted to find out the physical, mental and social health situation of the recovered patients. The study was conducted according an instruction of a meeting of the Incident Command System (ICS) held in the presence of Health Minister Bhanu Bhakta Dhakal nearly two months ago.
Phone interview was conducted among the participants among whom quantitative study was conducted on 552 individuals and qualitative study on 25 individuals. All the interviewees were aged over 18 years. The study’s report was published in a press statement of the Council on Wednesday.
The study further stated while 80 per cent recovered individuals were found to be performing their daily activities easily when analysed on the basis of their recent health situation; the remaining had to receive some form of support from others to perform their daily tasks.
As per the study’s findings, 9.6 per cent individuals sought support from others to perform household chores and 9 per cent for outdoor works. Similarly, 11.1 per cent sought assistance from others in income-related works.
The study based on physical condition of the recovered individuals showed that the health of 89.1 per cent was normal while 10.9 per cent were still suffering from some health issues such as common cold and cough, weakness and loss of smell and taste.
Over 35 per cent of the participants were found to have faced similar health issues for two to three weeks after recovering.
However, while the physical situations of recovered individuals were promising, the mental and social health reports were unsatisfactory.
The study report showed that 21.4 per cent had stress over their work, 19.2 per cent were tensed due to the family situation and 29.6 per cent were stressed because of unemployment. When the patients were analysed on the basis of social health, the report showed that 48.3 per cent individuals faced social discrimination.
“Some participants also expressed that false news related to COVID-19 carried out by different news media and social sites stressed them more than being tested positive for virus,” read the press statement.
With various aspects of the society affecting the mental and social health of recovered individuals as shown by the study, the government is expected to take necessary steps toward it.
Meanwhile, the Council is also conducting a study over the assessment of the effects of the policies formulated by the government for the prevention and control of COVID-19.
Likewise, the study is also being conducted regarding investigative and epidemiological descriptions of COVID-19 outbreak and another study is based upon the evaluation of lab services and the data it examined.