This comes after a woman fell to her death from the eighth floor of a hospital in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, on Wednesday night.
MMHA president Dr Andrew Mohanraj said there was a lot of stigma linked to the virus, adding that those with pre-existing mental conditions were even more vulnerable to being driven to extreme measures such as taking their lives.
He told FMT it seemed that being cleared of Covid-19 was insufficient whether for former patients or people undergoing quarantine, as they could face social “boycott” and discrimination.
“There’s a need to engage with patients and to assess the psychological state of patients because clearly there is a great deal of stigma associated with this.
“They need community support and for that to happen, there must be a clear flow of information to the patients and to their family members. People might not fully understand the extent of damage that Covid-19 can cause,” he said.
Aside from the social discrimination and stigma patients face, he said, the thought of a looming economic crisis could further increase the risk of suicide.
Mohanraj said society needed to learn how to accept and assimilate recovered patients back into the community, instead of making their own conclusions or falling prey to fake news that further worsened the stigma against them.
He said community and religious leaders played a big role in educating the community to prevent discrimination against Covid-19 survivors, or even people suspected of having the virus, or those who were under quarantine.
He also expressed concern about the mental wellbeing of health workers who had been in constant contact with Covid-19 patients and persons under quarantine.
He said they could be struggling with some psychological trauma themselves, which would lead to them experiencing “compassion fatigue” and emotional burnout.
“Frontliners may grapple with the fear of getting infected and experience heightened distress watching infected patients die. And they too could face social boycott and discrimination.
“That is what we see worldwide, and Malaysia is no exception,” he said.
He urged frontliners to reach out for professional help if they needed to, and urged them not to shy away as their needs should be addressed as well.
A 63-year-old woman suspected of being a Covid-19 patient fell to her death in Kota Kinabalu on Wednesday night, although she had been scheduled to be discharged the following day.
Her body was found sprawled on the grounds of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital 1 at 9.15pm after she was believed to have fallen from the eighth floor.
However, Sabah health director Dr Christina Rundi later confirmed the woman was not a Covid-19 patient but had been placed at the hospital’s isolation ward after being suspected of having the virus.
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