Health Ministry on media awareness drive to reduce stigma of being Covid-19 patient, Parliament told

Health Minister Datuk Dr Adham Baba said his ministry views the stigmatisation of Covid-19 patients as a serious issue. — Picture by Firdaus Latif

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 12 — The Ministry of Health (MOH) has conducted various programmes including collaborating with relevant non-governmental organisations to help Covid-19 patients to carry on with life after recovering from the virus.

Health Minister Datuk Dr Adham Baba said his ministry views the stigmatisation of Covid-19 patients as a serious issue as it may have a long-term impact on the mental health those who have recovered, reducing their ability to function, productivity and quality of life.

“Throughout this pandemic, MOH carried out various awareness programmes to ensure this stigmatisation does not become a threatening phenomenon and affect the survivor’s emotional well-being.

“We have used all sorts of digital platforms such as television, the media and infographics to reach out to the public and educate them on the level of post risk factors and also how stigmatisation can have long term impact on survivors,” he said in his written reply to Parit MP Datuk Mohd Nizar Zakaria who asked what efforts have been implemented by MOH to eliminate the stigma of former Covid-19 patients.

Dr Adham said besides working with NGOs, emotional support for recovering patients are provided at all health facilities where counseling sessions, psychological interventions as well as various other simple therapies such as art therapy, therapy respiratory relaxation and mental health screening are conducted.

He said early psychological help is also given to certain recovered patients their emotional state is unstable.

Dr Adham explained that in the long run stigmatisation or any form of discrimination can lead to survivors having a low level of resilience, being sensitive, less focused, depressed, low self-esteem, and have irritable emotions.

“This can lead to deteriorating physical health such as feeling weak, headaches and rapid heartbeat among others,” he said.

Last month Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said Health Ministry will not identify the area of infection until it is certain that there is a concentration of cases there.

He said this is to prevent causing undue stigma to a locality where such clusters are named.

“We do not identify these things and there is a lot of pressure on MOH to announce the locality, the families or the individuals. We do not want to create stigmatisation in that region,” he was quoted saying.

from Malay Mail - Malaysia https://ift.tt/2IwyVVn
via IFTTT