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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol.7, No.12
Publication Date: December 25, 2020
DOI:10.14738/assrj.712.9216. Choudhary, H. R., Jangir, H. O., & Gupta, S. (2020). Unique Experiences of Frontline Health Workers involved in management of
COVID-19: Stories from Rural Odisha. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 7(12) 623-628
Unique Experiences of Frontline Health Workers involved in
management of COVID-19: Stories from Rural Odisha
Hari Ram Choudhary
ICMR – Regional Medical Research Centre Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India - 751023
Hemraj P. Jangir
Indian Institute of Dalit Studies New Delhi, India – 110067
Shalu Gupta
Utsa Foundation Trust, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India - 751012
ABSTRACT
This narrative study tells the stories of Frontline Health Workers who
are actively involved in the management of COVID-19 in the rural areas
of Odisha state in India. They have been known as corona warriors by
the Government and Media but at the same time, they became the
victims of mental and social stigma. Despite their high risk of dealing
with corona patients, they worked tirelessly but we as a society started
stigmatizing them and failed to give the respect that they deserve. This
study is an attempt to highlight their responses to mental and social
stigma.
Keywords: Frontline Health Workers, Social, Mental Stigma, COVID-19
INTRODUCTION:
Since the first COVID-19 case reported in India (January 31, 2020), the frontline health care workers
are working restlessly for ensuring better health care activities to common people. It has been
almost six months when the country crossed 35 lakhs but these frontline health care workers are
giving their level best. They are putting their own lives at risk to save the lives of others. The
government also recognized their work and acknowledged them as corona warriors. Despite their
efforts, they are facing several obstructions in residential colonies where they are often called out
and are compelled to leave the area. So the kind of mental distress due to stigma (stigma of being a
health care worker who deals with COVID positive cases), their suffering is needed to be
documented. Since they are very inexperienced to face such responses from their locality people,
the situations are being turned out as a nightmare for them. In the past five months, we have been
hearing different news across the country where people are opposing these frontline workers.
People are trying to get them tested or forcing them to be quarantined with a meaningless
imagination of stopping the spread of the virus among the community or to their loved one. While
these frontline health care workers should be treated like any other medical personnel, they are
being blamed for spreading the virus, being judged upon, not respected in their residential areas.
This transformation of mind-set happened because we learned through World Health Organization
(WHO) that to curb the spread of the virus we need to maintain physical distancing and we started
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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal (ASSRJ) Vol.7, Issue 12, December-2020
blaming these health care workers because they might be touching the skin of sick people. Central
and State governments and civil societies have been trying different approaches to change people’s
mind-set to cooperate with the frontline health care workers instead of throwing a stone or abusing
them. Even after such efforts, people are hardly cooperating with frontline health care workers and
in the end, they have to use the authoritative approach since it’s their duty and they have to do as
instructed. Now with all this, there are several different experiences that our frontline health care
has been experiencing from the past six months and to study their experience and to hear those out
we conducted this small study. In this study, we interviewed the different stakeholders involved in
the management of the COVID-19 related activities at the front/community level. The main focus of
the study is to explore the mental and social stigma among frontline health care workers involved
in the management of COVID-19 activities.
METHODOLOGY
Study Design;
This is a simple narrative research where researchers interviewed frontline health care workers
about the nature of mental and physical distress experienced by them.
Study Area:
All the narratives were collected from the rural areas of Cuttack and Khurda districts in Odisha [The
two most infected districts].
Narratives/Results:
Don’t feel like Heroes
Front-line health care workers have been categorized as heroes or warriors by the Indian
Government and mainstream media but many of these workers whom we interacted with don’t feel
like it. Even the Prime Minister of Indian appealed the nation to clap and applaud to praise the work
of health care staff and doctors. Instead, they believe that despite treating us as heroes first treat as
human resources and give value to our work. One frontline health care worker from a village of the
Cuttak expressed that;
We saw in the news channels that our government called us heroes in fighting against
the global pandemic. At that time something special feeling arose in mind but when we
see or experience our surroundings, things are different. We are not being even treated
as humans by our neighbour, they asked us to leave colony because we are directly in
contact with patients so definitely bring corona here. This is how you treat heroes, I
don’t feel like it.
As we stated in the introduction, many news channels and print media reports exposed that health
care workers are being humiliated by their colony people and house owners, and they were being
abused verbally and physically by local people.
While interacting with a health care worker, she narrated a news story that she heard in news. She
says, two women health workers were assaulted by the residents when these women were buying
fruits from a local vendor. The residents asked the women, who work in Safdarjung Hospital in
Delhi, to stay away from a local vendor and other shop keepers, saying you are bringing the
infections from corona positive patients.
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Choudhary, H. R., Jangir, H. O., & Gupta, S. (2020). Unique Experiences of Frontline Health Workers involved in management of COVID-19: Stories from
Rural Odisha. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 7(12) 623-628
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.712.9216 625
She added look at these incidents, this is how you treat your heroes or warriors. It is a really sad
response from the public that we hear daily from our colleagues or news. We are all risking our life is
relentlessly working with bare minimum safety measures available but still treated as untouchables,
Very sad.
Enforcement of COVID Guidelines at the Community Level
ASHAs (Accredited Social Health Activists) is the end unit of Indian Public Health Care System and
in the time of pandemic like COVID-19, they were the ones who were implementing all the
guidelines issued in different times by the Central and State ministries of health and family welfare
with regards to preventing the spread of the virus among the communities. During implementation,
all the frontline health workers were instructed for making everyone complete the home or
institutional quarantine of 14 days. In this period one of the ASHA shared her experience of facing
eve-teasing and threat on her life while she was involved in the enforcement of guidelines even at
night times. Since there was no specific time of arrivals for migrants to return to their home and
because of that, she had to follow up with each and every one who is returning home. Also, she was
instructed to take their follow up for the next three days on the development of symptoms. In her
words...
Once I went to meet a man (29 years old), who returned to his home from some other
city in late-night, for taking details of travel history and to guide him that how he should
be following or self-monitor his health for few weeks. He didn’t take this thing positively
and started abusing me and also started making fun of my explanation regarding the
symptoms. Like when I started telling him that cough, thought pain, high fever, difficulty
in breathing, etc. are the major symptoms. Just after my explanation about each
symptom he started making fun of that and started expressing that I have this and that
symptom funnily. This reaction had disturbed my mind a lot but it was too late in the
evening and was alone in the locality. Somehow I have instructed his to be home
isolation for the next two weeks by following the home quarantine guidelines and
returned to the home and shared this incident with my husband; he got very angry with
me and that man as well.
These incidents demotivated and made them anxious that people are reacting in such a bad manner.
If they do not follow the guidelines the authority would scold them and if they visit migrant
labourer’s home in the night they do not feel safe and have no moral support from the family. Many
of the health care workers just regretted their work and told we are just putting our life in risk
without any coming back.
Another ASHA worker expressed her views and says;
Sometimes we feel our family/husband is true because we as corona warriors are giving
our best to serve people but what are we getting in return: abusive words, taunts,
judgments, comments. Why we are putting so much effort in a job that too which is
temporary. We do not have other options except urging the people to give value to our
work and efforts rather than making us heroes with no values.
There are some behaviour challenges that the rural Indian population is stuck in like keeping mask
or cover face feels like suffocation to them, using sanitizer is not in their budget or priority but they
are also not used to frequent hand washing and prefer open defecation mainly in rural areas. So the