Quake phobia leading to medical disorders: Doctors

Patna: Apart from taking a heavy toll on human lives, tremors have led to quake phobia among citizens of Bihar and Nepal resulting in medical disorders, according to doctors.

A team of AIIMS Patna that had gone to Nepal for relief work after the April 25 quake that killed more than 8000 people there has come out with a study on quake-hit people of the Himalayan nation and bordering areas in Bihar that at least 40 per cent people are suffering from vertigo, vomiting, headache and fear.

"The case report suggests the medical disorders due to quake phobia have emerged as a major problem which needs to be tackled," Director, AIIMS Patna, GK Singh, who headed the 22-member team to Himalayan nation, said. Medically Vertigo is described as a sensation of spinning, forcing people to feel that the world around them is spinning.

Vertigo is often caused by an inner ear problem. Superintendent of Gardiner Road Hospital in Patna Dr Manoj Kumar Sinha said the body is disturbed during quake and settles down after sometime. But, the fluid in inner ears remain which causes attack of vertigo.

The AIIMS Director said they had gone to Nepal to extend a helping hand in the wake of April 25 temblor on request of the Noble Medical College there. They conducted the study while extending assistance to citizens in the Himalayan nation and also in bordering areas of Bihar.

He said the study on affect of quake on people in Nepal and parts of Bihar like Viratnagar and Malgaon on borders has led them to coin the term "PINES" (Post Nepal India Earthquake Syndrome).

Singh said such clinical and psychological disorders triggered by quake phobia has surprised doctors and experts of AIIMS Patna.

Dr Sinha said the dimension of the problem could be gauged from the fact that almost 40 per cent of about 60 patients visiting OPD (Outdoor Patient Department) of Gardiner Road Hospital everyday in the heart of the capital town are having problem of vertigo.

The hospital Superintendent said diabetics were the worst hit by quake phobia with their sugar level rising dangerously.