NAHARLAGUN, 25 Sep: The Indian Red Cross Society’s Arunachal Pradesh State Branch (IRCSAPSB) conducted a training programme on ‘Covid-19 tele-counselling service’ at the IRCSAPSB office here on Saturday.
Public health specialist Dr Tana Natung and psychiatric social worker Dagrik Gara were the resource persons of the programme.
Addressing the participants, IRCSAPSB honorary secretary Dr Emi Rumi spoke about the importance of counselling in various fields, “especially in schools during the reopening period as there is fear psychosis in parents about sending their children to schools during Covid-19 pandemic,” and about how counsellors can make the teachers and parents aware of the “good practice of Covid-19 guidelines.”
Resource person Dr Natung presented an overview of the origin of Covid-19 and the state’s struggle for logistics and screening in the first wave of the pandemic due to unavailability of a manufacturing unit and unpreparedness for Covid-19 in India. He also stated that “there was insufficient technical manpower for management during the first outbreak of Covid-19.”
Dr Natung emphasised on the need for a specialized and improvised counselling cell for generating awareness among the affected people, especially the aged ones.
Pointing out the comparatively low mortality rate in Arunachal Pradesh, he informed that “the state government is trying its best to cope up with the Covid-19 pandemic and we as good citizens should abide by the SOPs and guidelines issued by the government from time to time.”
The other resource person, Gara, spoke about counselling, its definition, the key qualities of a counsellor, and the methods and techniques to be applied while counselling Covid-19 positive patients.
IRCSAPSB joint secretary Dr Annong Borang and IRCSAPSB Covid-19 nodal officer Koj Tara also spoke.
