Managing Director of Nyaho Medical Centre, Dr Elikem Tamakloe, has recounted his experience and the stigmatisation he suffered after he contracted Covid-19.

According to him, even among the medical circles the doctors and nurses who recover get stigmatised.

This comes after he and all member of his family fought and won their battle against the virus.

According to him, everyone is susceptible to stigma due to Covid-19, even healthcare workers.

Stigmatisation

“Stigma affects everyone and even for us who are healthcare workers, who should know better stigma was still a problem,” he revealed.

The Nyaho Clinic CEO explained that people are discriminated against due to the fact that they have had the disease rather than offering them support to get through the sickness.

Dr Tamakloe stated that “our fear and worry get the better of us and instead of and we start to deny them the common decencies that human beings need.”

“There are people who are asymptomatic and have not been tested who may be positive and those do not get stigmatised. Yet, for those who have actually tested and recovered, rather people are stigmatising and are staying away from them as if we will catch something even when they are wearing masks. It’s not as if we don’t do the social distancing but we are treating them differently from other people,” he lamented.

He noted that people gossip about recovered colleagues and blaming them for other people becoming sick without a grounding in reality.

Dr Elikem advised people to refrain from making jokes about people who have recovered from Covid-19 as they become more sensitive and conscious.

“Once you have the right PPE and do the right thing, you are protected. To put the blame to someone is ridiculous because it is in the community, it is invisible. You don’t know where you got it from. The virus is the problem, not the human being," he said.

The good thing is we have every level of care not just for the protection of our staff but also for patients as well. Because you find that because there is a higher concentration of people that are sick health care workers are the ones who get sicker than most people.”

Contracting Covid-19

Recounting how his family contracted the virus and treated it, he noted that the reactions of each person’s body to the virus differed.

“I was in a high-risk category so I was always very cautious if I was beginning to feel sick. I started to feel a headache and my body started aching.

"I decided to lie down and I spoke to my wife who was also laying down. She said was not also feeling too well. That was the red flag because the two of us were getting sick at the same time was not normal to me,” he narrated.

However, he noted that the symptoms for the virus may differ because everyone has a different body system.

Dr Elikem further explained that his children and their nanny experienced no symptoms and appeared completely well but tested positive.

“My wife, she had the stereotypical dry cough, body aches and loss of smell. It is very much important for people to know that asymptomatic people are very much a part of the spectrum.

Recovery

The doctor cautioned that individual must make decisions with regard to the medications for treating coronavirus in consultation with their doctor in order to be safe.

“The most important thing else, your immune system needs to be strong. We took Vitamin C religiously and Zincovit. Basically, anything that is natural that your body normally takes, we actually always recommend that because ultimately your body needs to have all the resources it needs to fight the disease,” he advised.

However, Elikem advised that individuals reduce their stress levels by getting enough sleep and taking care of their mental health.

Meanwhile, he acknowledged that “in the very beginning there was a lot of fear of the unknown”.

“As a father and also as a business leader, the implications of me being sick were multiple. I definitely thought about what will happen to me if I was incapacitated.”

Currently, the doctor and his family have all recovered and have returned to living their normal lives.