• An 80-plus man calls up a suicide helpline number and says he wants to kill himself but cannot because he has to be alive for his ailing wife. His wife has been in hospital for two months and he has exhausted all his medical insurance claims. He wants to shift his wife to a cheaper hospital but cannot do so because of the lockdown.
• Another senior citizen, living alone in the city, fears she would not be able to see her children one last time because they are abroad.

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a psychological impact on the vulnerable sections of society.

If it is causing elders to ring up suicide helplines to talk of their distress, loneliness and helplessness, the underserved people, unsure when and from where the next meal will come, are keen to be reunited with their families.

Lifeline Foundation, which runs a suicide helpline in the city, has had a three-fold increase in the number of calls since the pandemic.

Smile Foundation, which works in the health sector for the poor, has started tele-counselling their patients, who are largely migrant workers.

Before the pandemic, Lifeline fielded 15 to 20 calls a day. Today, the numbers have risen to over 60. And 15 to 20 calls are going unanswered.

“Not all callers are suicidal. But most are dealing with emotional issues,” said Molly Thambi, deputy director, Lifeline Foundation. The majority of the callers at Lifeline are elderly people.

“They start the conversation with a practical problem and then relate their distress and anxiety around the current situation. We give them referrals for their practical problems like where to get what. And listen to their emotional distress,” said Thambi.

Since the elderly are the most vulnerable and most of them lead a solitary life in the city, they are finding it difficult to cope.

There are suicidal callers, too, but they are clinically depressed and are on medication. “There was one caller, a 78-year-old. The volunteer got completely drained listening to him. He was extremely distressed,” said Thambi.

Smile Foundation, an NGO which runs mobile health vans and provides primary healthcare in many parts of Bengal, has started tele-counselling to provide psychological support to the “underserved”.

Their patients comprise the marginal daily wage earners. “They are currently very vulnerable, cut off from family, with no income and means of livelihood,” said Santanu Mishra, co-founder and executive trustee, Smile Foundation.

Deprived of livelihood, they are anxious about their families. “It was to earn a livelihood and feed the mouths in the family that these migrant labourers left home. Today, even if they are given food, they are anxious to know if the family back home has access to food,” said Ruma Ghosh, of Smile Foundation.

While Smile Foundation is calling up its patients, distressed people can call up Lifeline Foundation, which can be reached at 033-40447437 and 9088030303.