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. 2023 Dec;30(6):167-171.
doi: 10.21315/mjms2023.30.6.16. Epub 2023 Dec 19.

Post COVID-19 Pandemic and Intimate Partner Violence: Family Physician to Its Rescue

Ramasamy Chidambaram  1 , Indumathi Sivakumar  1
Affiliations

Post COVID-19 Pandemic and Intimate Partner Violence: Family Physician to Its Rescue

Ramasamy Chidambaram et al. Malays J Med Sci. 2023 Dec.

Abstract

COVID-19 has created panic waves wherein the world is under test and Malaysia is no exception. Intimate partner violence (IPV) is one among the exhaustive list and seen rise in cases especially after the lockdown where families must spend more time with each other. Good news that the movement restrictions are lifted, meanwhile it is likely that family physicians can expect more admissions of IPV. Reports from the Ministry of Health Malaysia state the last year cases have noticed a spike of 42%. Thereby the present communication aims to keep the family physician informed on the rising IPV related injuries. Our prime concern is about the reluctant victims that remain undetected. In reality, situations become tougher especially when victim is accompanied by her perpetrator. Being the first person to contact victim, the family physician should utilise this post-pandemic as a potential strategy to identify the voiceless victims in perpetrators presence.

Keywords: facial injury; family physician; intimate partner abuse; referral.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: None.

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