A 35-year-old diabetic patient, Theresa Agoe, has pleaded with society to stop all forms of stigmatisation and embrace people living with non-communicable diseases (NCD).

Diagnosed with the disease at age 12, she said victims of the conditions are not handicapped and should not be tagged with unpleasant situations and behaviours, including witchcraft.

“Living with an NCD patient doesn’t mean the person is handicapped or a witch, but we all need everybody around us. You need me; I need you. So, if you’re living with one, please handle the person with care,” she pleaded on Joy Prime’s Prime Morning on Tuesday, July 9.

That notwithstanding, Miss Agoe also encourages victims of the ailments to exercise patience with themselves and acquire comprehensive knowledge on the type of illness they are diagnosed with to guide their daily lives.

"You, the NCD patient too, be patient with yourself. Please do some research on the condition you’re having and know the dos and don’ts of it.”

After she was diagnosed as a diabetic patient twenty five years ago, Miss Agoe was privileged to have a caring family who supported her in all ways, although she was diagnosed late because her parents could not identify it earlier.

Baaba Otoo, a hypertensive patient who also spoke on the show, concurred and hammered on the research aspect, urging that it should be a priority part of the victims’ lives.

She said it has played a major role in helping her manage the disease since the day she was diagnosed.

“I’ll say it to the glory of God that I’m fine because I had good management of myself right from the fact that I had good doctors surrounding me, and then it’s because I’ve understood the condition that I am in now, so I don’t do certain things. I’ll encourage a lot of people to go by the dos and don’ts of the condition because if you know this is not good for you, you don’t need to do it. At the end of the day, if you tell yourself that you won’t do it, it goes a long way to help you, the patient.”

She admonished them to resort to their medication and not spiritualize the condition by relying on spiritualists, which puts their lives at risk. She encouraged patients to hook on to the Lucy app if introduced to them, as it is one of the best management strategies.