Asthma Patient Cry Out,We Are Been Stigmatised Over Coronavirus

 News » We are being stigmatised over coronavirus – Bauchi asthma patients cry out

We are being stigmatised over coronavirus – Bauchi asthma patients cry out
ON APRIL 26, 202011:28 AMIN NEWS
Asthma patients in Bauchi say they are being stigmatised as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic because of the occasional breathing difficulties they encounter.
Some of them told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Bauchi on Sunday that because ‘breathing difficulties’ is one of the important symptoms in determining a case of coronavirus prior to medical test, they were being mistaken for COVID-19 patients, particularly in public places.
They said, for this reason, anytime they experienced asthma attack in public, they were treated with scorn, sometimes with people fleeing from the scene.

They said since it was not possible under such circumstances to satisfactorily explain themselves, they faced enormous embarrassment.
Mrs Hadiza Usman, an asthma patient, said the most annoying aspect was that even some people in the neighbourhood who were aware of their status as asthma patients, tended to display such ignorance.
“The phobia for coronavirus has reached the level that even people that know you become jittery whenever you experience asthma attack.
“Sometimes even relations are not comfortable; I know of somebody whose brothers contemplated calling NCDC to help determine whether it was the normal asthma attack or Coronavirus,” she said
Another patient, Mohammed Umar, said he had experienced stigmatisation twice while trying to withdraw money from a bank.
“We were queuing outside waiting for our turn to enter the banking hall when l had a mild attack.
“Knowing the implication, I excused myself and kept a distance but when the attack subsided and I went back to rejoin the queue, nobody was willing to stay close to me