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Abstract
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The COVID-19 pandemic has brought with it a multitude of concerns that otherwise would have remained woefully neglected due to their lack of public health impact. Among them, one especially important concern for mental health professionals (MHP) is the rampant promotion of alcohol-based hand sanitizers (ABHS). In this letter, we shed some light on the potential negative impact of this on the community and recommend some ways forward.
ABHS had been in use for hand hygiene even before the pandemic. However, after the COVID-19 pandemic struck, the importance of personal hand hygiene measures gained widespread promotion and recognition. The masses readily accepted ABHS as a rapid, portable, and hassle-free alternative to repeated handwashing with soap and water. The availability and sale of ABHS went through the roof. They have since become ubiquitous in hospitals and other places such as houses, public places, modes of transit, and so on.
The usual contents of ABHS include isopropyl alcohol and ethanol, with the amount of alcohol ranging from 60% to 95%.1 Their ingestion is potentially hazardous to human health and can result in clinical manifestations of acute alcohol intoxication. Various manifestations include behavioral, cardiac, gastrointestinal, pulmonary, neurological, and metabolic effects that can even lead to death.2 Intentional ingestion of ABHS with goals of intoxication or suicide is more common than accidental ingestion in healthcare settings. Furthermore, such intentional ingestion is more likely to result in significant untoward events like mortality.3
Consumption of poisonous substances is reportedly the second most common modality for suicide in the Indian population, comprising about 28% of the total cases.4 There is currently a dearth of Indian literature on the prevalence of ABHS as a tool for self-harm. However, several reports of self-harm by ABHS ingestion are available in the global literature, predominantly in the younger population
Language: en |