Medical doctors unprofessional in declaring coronavirus status – Anti-Stigma Advocate

Anti-Stigma campaigner for COVID-19, Fred Drah who himself has survived the virus is advocating for COVID-19 test results to be declared by a psychologist rather than a medical doctor.

On his accord, doctors declaring COVID-19 test results, especially when the result is positive make patients feel like a death sentence has been passed on them. “The way doctors deliver the news of one testing positive for the coronavirus disease is really bad”.

Fred Drah who tested positive for the virus in the early months of 2020 sharing his experience said, “I received a call from the doctor who first confirmed my identity and just dropped the bombshell on me. He just said I have tested positive for COVID-19 and I should pack up a few things as an ambulance had been sent to get me. The way the information was delivered was very bad”.

Fred who described the doctor’s mode of communicating his status as terrible shared, “the information literally killed me”. Being the first to arrive at the hospital, Fred later confirmed that all others who came after him complained of the way the news was broken to them.

Moving forward, Fred advocates that psychologists should be made to relay this information to all who test positive for the virus rather than doctors. He believes psychologists are well trained to do this as compared to doctors.

He championed this stance in a special edition of the Happy Morning Show on the topic, “Psychological Challenges Related to COVID-19”.

In the same vein, Clinical Psychologist, Emmanuel Asampong noted that such critical news as one on the COVID-19 status of a person should be communicated in a systematic manner. “If we are breaking such news, it has to be done systematically for the patient to draw the conclusion for herself or himself rather than telling them straight to the face”.

When it comes to health-related pronouncements, Emmanuel believes several experts need to come together and pass down such information to patients. “The medical doctor may have run the tests and made the diagnosis but you need a different expert to break the news”.

On his authority, such teams should not be assembled solely on an ad-hoc basis but there should be an established team of doctors, psychologists and other health professionals to address health concerns.