Name and Title of the Programme : Webinar on “Impact of COVID-19 on Physical and Mental Health"

Date                       :  26^th June, 2020

Organized by           : Jointly by:-

                                1. IEEE Delhi Section and

                                2. Bharati Vidyapeeth's Institute of Computer Applications and Management

                                 (BVICAM), New Delhi

In collaboration with  : 1. Computer Science (CS) Chapter of IEEE Delhi Section

                                   2. Consultants Network Affinity (CNA) Group of IEEE Delhi Section

                                   3. Inter Society Relations (ISR) Standing Committee of IEEE Delhi Section

                                   4. Life Member Affinity Group of IEEE Delhi Section

                                   5. Industry Relations (IR) Ad-Hoc Committee of IEEE Delhi Section

                                   6. Institution of Electronics and Telecommunications (IETE), Delhi Centre

                                   7. Indian Society for Technical Education (ISTE), Delhi Section

                                   8. Computer Society of India (CSI)

                                  9. Safa Society, New Delhi

                                 10. Batra Hospital and Medical Research Centre, New Delhi

                                 11. Special Interest Group on Humanitarian Technology (SIGHT), Delhi Section

Report :

The Webinar was held on 26^th June, 2020 in the benign presence of Prof. Subrata Mukhopadhyay, Chairperson, CNA Group, IEEE Delhi Section, Prof. Ajay P. Thakare, Chairman, TPPC, IETE, Gen. (Dr.) Ajay Chandele, Past President, IETE, Prof. Subramanian Krishnamurthy, Immediate Past Section Chairperson, Mr. R. K. Vyas, President, CSI, Prof. Prerna Gaur, Chairperson, IEEE Delhi Section and Dr. A. Murali M. Rao, Chairperson, CS Chapter, IEEE Delhi Section. The webinar began with the welcome address of Prof. Subrata Mukhopadhyay, giving details of IEEE Delhi Section and the starting of weekly webinar series under Delhi Section. He also highlighted about the need of having these webinars under the backdrop of COVID-19. It was followed by the welcome speech of Prof. M. N. Hoda, Director, Bharati Vidyapeeth's Institute of Computer Applications and Management (BVICAM), New Delhi. He welcomed all the panelists & attendees and discussed the background note of conducting this Webinar on COVID-19 and also encouraged all the participants to adapt in the New Normal life of work to meet the challenges posed by COVID-19 Pandemic. He also discussed the five phases of any Pandemic i.e. Denial, Anger, Bargain, Depression and Acceptance and motivated the participants to directly move to Acceptance phase from Bargain phase without going into Depression phase, which is also the primary objective of this webinar. The Webinar was also addressed by Dr. A. Murali M. Rao and Prof. Ajay P. Thakare.

The webinar was aimed to discuss how COVID-19 has imposed an unprecedented threat to  physical  and  mental  health  of  people  across  all  the  age  groups  and  how  it  influences  their  depression,  anxiety and stress level. Dr. Dharmendra Singh, Senior Consultant Psychiatry, Batra Hospital and Medical Research Centre, New Delhi was the main speaker of the webinar. He discussed how COVID-19 has made a huge impact on our society as the incidences of mental health problems are increasing day by day. It has changed the way people do things and made them anxious which cause them to think differently which they might not consider under normal situations.

He also sensitized the participants about different psychiatric disorders like anxiety, depression, suicide and obsessive compulsive disorder, which are affecting mental health of general public. In this regard, he motivated all the participants to keep themselves engaged in activities of their interests, discuss happy events with friends, take proper diet to increase immunity, take precautionary steps against COVID-19 and most importantly to maintain a positive attitude. He also informed few strategies to keep yourself mentally fit and some Do’s and Don’ts to be followed up to keep us safe during this outbreak.

The session concluded with Question & Answer session in which participants willingly asked their queries. Mr. R. K. Vyas gave his vote of thanks to the speaker & all participants, and also appreciated the commendable efforts made by BVICAM, New Delhi, in collaboration with IEEE and other professional bodies for organizing such webinars. Prof. M .N. Hoda extended his gratitude towards the entire management of Batra Hospital and thanked Dr. Dharmendra for his knowledgeable and encouraging session. The webinar attracted a huge number of participants from across the world.