Egyptian hospital offers psychological support as part of coronavirus treatment

Egyptian doctors check a patient’s X-ray at the infectious diseases unit of the Imbaba Hospital in Cairo, during the novel coronavirus pandemic crisis. (AFP)
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Updated 17 June 2020
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Egyptian hospital offers psychological support as part of coronavirus treatment

  • Patients suffering from anxiety, depression in quarantine

CAIRO: An Egyptian hospital meant for the quarantine of coronavirus patients is introducing a psychological support initiative as part of its treatment protocol.

Kafr El-Dawwar General Hospital is in Beheira governorate close to Alexandria, Egypt’s second largest city.

The initiative is being launched under the supervision of the Egyptian Ministry of Health and is being applied as some coronavirus patients are suffering from depression.

Dr. Yasser Zayed, the hospital’s director, said that coronavirus patients believed they had reached the “end” of their lives. “Therefore, they show severe psychological symptoms that drive them to attempt to escape from quarantine hospitals or carry out dangerous actions like smashing room windows and medical equipment.”

He underlined the importance of psychological support for coronavirus patients which, he said, was as important as the treatment itself.

Zayed added that, although the state was making huge efforts to treat coronavirus patients by allocating many government hospitals for examination and quarantine, the role of psychological support for patients inside quarantine hospitals remained low despite its crucial importance as panic increased among COVID-19 patients.

He said the initiative included providing all types of psychological support for coronavirus patients, as well as providing such support for doctors and medical teams in quarantine hospitals, as the number of infections continue to rise.

Egypt has 47,856 confirmed cases and a death toll of 1,766, according to data from the John Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.

“Psychological capabilities differ from one patient to another, especially coronavirus patients who believe they have reached the end of their lives as soon as they are admitted into a quarantine hospital. However, others remain strong but need some psychological support from time to time,” Zayed said. He said that the program would be applied by psychiatrists and experts assigned from specialist hospitals.

One psychiatrist assigned to work in the hospital, and who preferred to remain anonymous, said that the coronavirus patient was different from other patients. “Thus, he needs more psychological support,” the doctor told Arab News. “Moreover, medical team members have various psychological capabilities. Most patients in quarantine hospitals suffer from stress and anxiety since they are isolated from society during treatment. They are also more vulnerable and are affected by the mounting panic from this pandemic.”

He explained that the psychological state of a coronavirus patient contributed to a great extent to his or her recovery, especially because some patients suffered from severe depression and anxiety because their fear of death was such that they refused to fully adhere to treatment protocols. They should receive immediate psychological support before their condition deteriorated, he added.

The doctor called on the Ministry of Health to provide audio and visual media material to communicate with patients in quarantine hospitals as a way to facilitate the task of psychiatrists and to also maintain privacy during treatment.

“The psychological treatment of coronavirus patients is applied on two tracks - direct contact with the patient through extensive psychiatric sessions and through medication according to specialized protocols so as not to clash with the main coronavirus treatment protocol,” he added.

The General Secretariat for Psychological Health has provided psychological services coinciding with the disease’s outbreak including a hotline for consultations. 

It has assigned almost 300 specialists and employees and provided them with special training on psychological support. Staff have received 2,800 questions on the hotline, mainly dealing with stress, anxiety, depression and the fear of getting infected.


US believes Israel, Lebanon have agreed terms to end Israel-Hezbollah conflict

Updated 40 min 32 sec ago
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US believes Israel, Lebanon have agreed terms to end Israel-Hezbollah conflict

WASHINGTON: Israel and Lebanon have agreed to the terms of a deal to end the Israel-Hezbollah conflict, Axios reported on Monday citing an unnamed senior US official.
Israel’s government on Monday said it was moving toward a ceasefire in the war with Hezbollah but there were still outstanding issues.


Arrest Warrant: UK would follow ‘due process’ if Netanyahu were to visit – foreign minister

Updated 51 min 52 sec ago
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Arrest Warrant: UK would follow ‘due process’ if Netanyahu were to visit – foreign minister

  • ICC issued arrest warrants on Thursday against Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu
  • Several EU states have said they will meet commitments under the statute if needed

FIUGGI: Britain would follow due process if Benjamin Netanyahu visited the UK, foreign minister David Lammy said on Monday, when asked if London would fulfil the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant against the Israeli prime minister.
“We are signatories to the Rome Statute, we have always been committed to our obligations under international law and international humanitarian law,” Lammy told reporters at a G7 meeting in Italy.
“Of course, if there were to be such a visit to the UK, there would be a court process and due process would be followed in relation to those issues.”
The ICC issued the warrants on Thursday against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defense minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas leader Ibrahim Al-Masri for alleged crimes against humanity.
Several EU states have said they will meet their commitments under the statute if needed, but Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has invited Netanyahu to visit his country, assuring him he would face no risks if he did so.
“The states that signed the Rome convention must implement the court’s decision. It’s not optional,” Josep Borrell, the EU’s top diplomat, said during a visit to Cyprus for a workshop of Israeli and Palestinian peace activists.
Those same obligations were also binding on countries aspiring to join the EU, he said.

 

 


Turkiye man kills seven before taking his own life

Updated 25 November 2024
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Turkiye man kills seven before taking his own life

Istanbul: A 33-year-old Turkish man shot dead seven people in Istanbul on Sunday, including his parents, his wife and his 10-year-old son, before taking his own life, the authorities reported on Monday.
The man, who was found dead in his car shortly after the shooting, is also accused of wounding two other family members, one of them seriously, the Istanbul governor’s office said in a statement.
The authorities, who had put the death toll at four on Sunday evening, announced on Monday the discovery near a lake on Istanbul’s European shore of the bodies of the killer’s wife and son, as well as the lifeless body of his mother-in-law.
According to the Small Arms Survey (SAS), a Swiss research program, over 13.2 million firearms are in circulation in Turkiye, most of them illegally, for a population of around 85 million.


2 Palestinians killed in Israeli raid in West Bank: PA

Updated 25 November 2024
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2 Palestinians killed in Israeli raid in West Bank: PA

  • The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said Israeli forces entered the village on Sunday night

Yabad: The Palestinian Authority said two Palestinians, including a teenage boy, were killed during an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank village of Yabad.
The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said Israeli forces entered the village on Sunday night, leading to clashes during which soldiers shot dead two Palestinians.
The two dead were identified by the Palestinian health ministry as Muhammad Rabie Hamarsheh, 13, and Ahmad Mahmud Zaid, 20.
“Overnight, during an IDF (Israeli army) counterterrorism activity in the area of Yabad, two terrorists hurled explosives at IDF soldiers. The soldiers responded with fire and hits were identified,” an Israeli military source told AFP.
Last week, the Israeli army launched several raids in the West Bank city of Jenin, killing nine people, most of them Palestinian militants.
Violence in the West Bank has soared since the war in Gaza erupted on October 7 last year after Hamas’s attack on Israel.
Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 777 Palestinians in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war, according to the Ramallah-based health ministry.
Palestinian attacks on Israelis have also killed at least 24 people in the West Bank in the same period, according to Israeli official figures.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967.


Israel says hit Hezbollah command center in deadly weekend strike

Updated 25 November 2024
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Israel says hit Hezbollah command center in deadly weekend strike

  • The strike hit a residential building in the heart of Beirut before dawn Saturday
  • Since September 23, Israel has intensified its Lebanon air campaign

JERUSALEM: The Israeli army on Monday said it had struck a Hezbollah command center in the downtown Beirut neighborhood of Basta in a deadly air strike at the weekend.
“The IDF (Israeli military) struck a Hezbollah command center,” the army said regarding the strike that the Lebanese health ministry said killed 29 people and wounded 67 on Saturday.
The strike hit a residential building in the heart of Beirut before dawn Saturday, leaving a large crater, AFP journalists at the scene reported.
A senior Lebanese security source said that “a high-ranking Hezbollah officer was targeted” in the strike, without confirming whether or not the official had been killed.
Hezbollah official Amin Cherri said no leader of the Lebanese movement was targeted in Basta.
Since September 23, Israel has intensified its Lebanon air campaign, later sending in ground troops against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
The war followed nearly a year of limited exchanges of fire initiated by Hezbollah in support of its ally Hamas after the Palestinian group’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which sparked the Gaza war.
The conflict has killed at least 3,754 people in Lebanon since October 2023, according to the health ministry, most of them since September this year.
On the Israeli side, authorities say at least 82 soldiers and 47 civilians have been killed.