Pandemia, With Psychic and Economic Effects

Financial instability and a short - term break or even a loss of work during pandemic is affecting both mental and physical health.

So say some citizens and psychologists for Radio Free Europe, which says families most affected are those who have poor economic income.

Berat Hajdari is a physical therapist by profession. He speaking to Radio Free Europe says that since March, everything has changed in the way he works. Patients with serious physical problems have suffered a lot, he says.

In the first phase of total closure, our clinic has been closed for two months. The patient's therapy has been interrupted. They came to stage after surgery and had to stop therapy. We've been past them online, helping them with some 48x0.

Then what needs to isolate him is the failure of workers to work. Help from the government has been almost zero. It's been very difficult for everyone because people depend on that income. Nothing I can plan for the future, nor for investment, but I have to be careful what steps to take, he says.

Meanwhile, Faik Statovci works as homekeeper. It also maintains clinics at the University Clinical Centre of Kosovo, regulating everything that is damaged in this institution.

Statovci says that if he didn't have a salary, as he does from KKUK, he couldn't survive. He's the seventh member in the family and the only one working.

Well, it's kind of a big deal that pandemia's had to do because I haven't worked in private for more than two months. Then, when the measures were released, I resumed, and it was not bad, but with the new measures, it will be very difficult. I'm also paid off from the state budget. We're seven members and I'm the only one working. ”

I've been taking care of my whole family for 20 years. Without working private, I can't live a month. The government, with the help it has provided of 200 euros, is not enough, just not alive. I'm not talking about luxury, but just basics, Statovci says.

It shows that only municipal obligations are paid up to 120 euros a month. The job he does as a housekeeper requires a car, which is expensive with it.

Meanwhile, psychologist Fitim Uka explains that what recent research indicates turns out to be a negative response between the economic situation, economic instability and psychological health at the time of pandemic.

According to him, families with small financial incomes have resulted in psychological problems but also domestic violence.

There is no doubt that the pandemic has influenced our mental health, and one of the reasons is not only that it has attacked mental health, but that people in this period have also faced other dilemmas related to their social and economic status”.

I think that one of the main conditions to create psychological prosperity is the ability of people to predict the future. And, this has been significantly disturbed by government decisions that have organized the closure for tomorrow, Uka estimates.

Otherwise, the Kosovo government has approved new measures Thursday for preventing the spread of COVID-19, which have entered into force Friday (April 6th).

The measures, under this government decision, will be assessed after two weeks, depending on the epidemiological situation in the country, and as such, it is worth up to another decision.

But with the new measures failing to reconcile Berat, who says these swift leadership decisions are creating a lot of uncertainty.

The “closing warned about Friday has created much uncertainty as they are reporting late. There is also confusion in patients by canceling the term, also on staff that do not live in Pristina. They don't know if they can come or not”.

Last Saturday was completely confusing. We didn't know if we should come and open the clinic, and the patients didn't know if they had a right to move. It means it's all gone with a lot of irregularities. This is then affecting patients very badly, since those with greater problems, even after back surgery, are thinking about what will happen to them, and this is keeping them under stress if this situation lasts and whether they will remain untreated, says Berat.

And according to Fitim Uka, the address to seeking help for people who need pandemic time is psychologist. However, he says that depending on the case, help should be sought even by a psychiatrist.

From data recorded on the free line for psychological assistance in Kosovo (038-20-80-890), it turns out to have asked over 2 thousand people of different ages, mainly because of the anxiety, stress and emotional and family problems that have passed since the appearance of pandemic.