Nairobi News

General

Stop stigmatising recovered Covid-19 patients


Kenyans have been asked to stop stigmatising persons discharged from hospital after recovering from Covid-19.

Health CAS Dr Mercy Mwangangi on Wednesday at Afya House said that stigmatisation of the recoveries will only slow down the government’s efforts to try and flatten the infection curve.

Kenyans, she says, will fear getting tested for the disease due to stigmatisation.

“We need to appeal to you and remind us all that the only way we can be able to beat this disease is if we avoid issues of stigmatisation. As this will lead to few Kenyans wanting to be tested frustrating the efforts put by the government to flatten the curve,” Dr Mwangangi said.

“We appeal for compassion, understanding and even celebrating these people who have been able to go through such a scourge and come out recovered,” she added.

On Wednesday five more people were discharged from hospital after fully recovering from coronavirus. The total number of recoveries in the country now stands at 129.

The Health CAS said that the ministry will now partner with Covid-19 recovered patients to create awareness.

“Just this morning we had a briefing with one of our recoveries from ICU, a gentleman who was able to recover from coronavirus disease and as he was sharing his story with us, he was giving us disturbing events as to how he has been accepted back into the community. While we celebrate these recoveries we are disturbed that reintegration has not been easy for these people,” she explained.