ROHINEE SINGH In the first ever health sur vey done on BPO employees by doctors of Safdarjung Hospital, it has been observed that the health of the Indian youth working at the BPOs is being adversely affected. The `graveyard shifts', abnormal sleeping hours and lack of adequate sleep have led to an increase in the cases of depression, hyper-tension, anxiety, and rise in the cases of accidents or a near-accident situations on roads. The BPO employees are found to be more dependent on alcohol, cigarettes and hot and cold beverages than the other people of the same age group.
The doctors researching on sleep medicine and sleeprelated disorders in a shocking observation have found that 81.1 per cent of people working in the BPOs have depression symptoms, 72.2 per cent have symptoms of anxiety.
Abuse of narcotic drugs was reported by 27.6 per cent population, and 32 per cent of them have had an accident or an accident-like situation because of inadequate sleep and irregular sleep pattern.
Abuse of narcotic drugs was reported by 27.6 per cent population, and 32 per cent of them have had an accident or an accident-like situation because of inadequate sleep and irregular sleep pattern.
The research has been done in a comparative study amongst 180 employees working in the BPOs within age group of 19 to 37 against 180 people in the controlled group, not associated with erratic work shifts. A questionnaire with 42 questions was prepared by the experts in sleep medicine to study sleep related disorders. The questions were based to observe the various disorders like depression, anxiety, stress at work and other lifestyle related disorders.
“Some of the observations are really disturbing.
The BPO lifestyle and work culture is affecting the youth of India tremendously,” said Dr JC Suri of Safdarjung Hospital. Suri is one of the few doctors in India working
on sleep related disorders.
Analysing the data, Dr Suri said, “Only 14.8 per cent of people in control group had depressive symptoms as against 81.1 per cent of those working at call centers. Only 7.7 per cent people in the control group had symptoms of anxiety as against 72.8 per cent working with the call centers.” The BPO employees are not only prone to neurologi
cal disorders but they also indulge in alcohol, cigarettes and narcotic drugs. The accident rate is also more amongst people working at the BPOs than the others. An average of 40.6 per cent of BPO employees smoke, 35.9 per cent of them have more than two drinks a week as against 2.1 per cent of the rest and 26.7 per cent of them indulge in narcotic drugs as against 4.1 per cent in the control group.
Though sleep disorders are being widely studied in the western countries, the problem of sleep disorders amongst the BPO employees is more South East Asia centric. “The western countries do not have such problems. We cannot wait for them to do the research first and then draw us conclusions, ” added Suri.
The doctors, however, feel that the BPOs had been reluctant in letting them study the health of their employees.
The BPOs across Delhi and the National Capital region denied entry to the doctors in their premises in order to carry out the survey. “Even the apex body of the BPOs did not permit the doctors to conduct such a research. They are not interested in the health of their employees,” said Dr Garima Shukla of AIIMS. Shukla said that a long-term research spread over several years is needed in the case of BPOs, but the BPO employers are disinterested in the health of the Indian youth working with them.
No comments:
Post a Comment