Prerna Pal is a counsellor with MSF, also known as Doctors Without Borders, that is offering counselling support to the patients at the hospital.
Prerna Pal checks on Radhika* every day, talking to her for a few minutes, addressing concerns about her treatment. Radhika is being treated for extremely drug resistant (XDR) TB for the past five months and is admitted in the women's ward of the Sewri TB hospital, Asia's largest facility for TB. The treatment for XDR-TB can continue for up to 5 years and is highly toxic.
A widow living in Bhiwandi, Radhika keeps thinking of her five-year-old son who now lives at an orphanage. "My parents are dead. I came from Nepal to Bhiwandi to work a year ago but fell ill. I can't breathe properly and keep crying but speaking to her makes me feel a little better," she says, pointing out to Pal.
Pal is a counsellor with MSF, also known as Doctors Without Borders, that is offering counselling support to the patients at the hospital. The hospital has six counsellors in all at the moment — three belonging to MSF, one from Tata Institute of Social Sciences and two from RNTCP (Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme).
"When I first started talking to her she wasn't ready to share anything but eventually she opened up. You have to develop trust with the patients. I have now reached a point where I know each and everything about my patients," Pal said.
The hospital, till a few years ago, was always in the news for a spate of suicides. With families abandoning them, TB patients would often get depressed and try to end their lives. There were also instances of doctors and nurses contracting TB.
But the focus for the past few years has shifted to supporting the patients psychologically, apart from giving them the required medicines. "Suicides have reduced to a large extent. There is also patient-to-patient counselling that we have started where former patients encourage the current ones to stick to the treatment regime," said Dr Jagdish Keni who recently retired as the hospital's medical superintendent.
The hospital saw as many as five suicides in 2012 following which counselling services were started. In 2016 the number dropped to one. The administrators hope to lift the pall of gloom that tends to surround the patients.
"We have a schedule and every counsellor covers two wards," said Praful Kamble, a patient support supervisor at the hospital. "If the case is serious then the patients are referred to a psychiatrist," he explained.
Loneliness, anxiety and depression are the most common issues. Many patients refuse to stick to the treatment regime after their family members abandon them.
(*Name changed)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "TB")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}