The Health Ministry today called for providing a social protection to migrant workers, saying they are prone to social, psychological and emotional trauma in lockdown situations.

Immediate concerns faced by such migrant workers relate to food, shelter, healthcare, fear of getting infected or spreading the infection, loss of wages, concerns about the family, anxiety and fear.

“Sometimes, they also face harassment and negative reactions of the local community. All this calls for strong social protection,” the ministry said in a document. It further said that migrant workers faced with the situation of spending a few days in temporary shelters, which may be quarantine centres, while trying to reach to their native places, are filled with anxieties and fears stemming from various concerns, and are in need of psycho-social support.

As part of such support the ministry listed some measures which include treating every migrant worker with dignity, respect, empathy and compassion, recognising specific and varied needs for each person/family and helping them to acknowledge that this is an unusual situation of uncertainty and reassure them that the situation is transient and not going to last long. Normal life is going to resume soon.

Emphasise on the importance of their staying in their present location and how mass movement could greatly and adversely affect all efforts to contain the virus, the ministry said.

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