Taxi drivers refuse to pick nurses over coronavirus stigma

At a time when the government is fighting stigma of coronavirus, some taxi drivers show, there is a long way to go in reducing negative attitudes.

Taxi drivers at Begoro in the Eastern Region have refused to pick up nurses of the district hospital after the facility confirmed its first coronavirus case.

Thirteen (13) staff of the Begoro district hospital have been quarantined after they attended to the infected person.

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65 others have also been kept in self isolation.

Deputy Director of Nursing Services at the Begoro District hospital, Millicent Annor, told journalists her staff are battling the COVID-19 stigma, a situation she described as worrying.

She explained that food vendors have also stopped selling to some of her staff dressed in their nursing uniforms.

“The stigma attached to the hospital and staff at this time in this town is not good at all. Now, even taxi drivers are refusing to pick our staff because they think they will transmit the disease (COVID-19) to them.

“Our staff go to buy porridge in the morning but the porridge sellers refuse to take the money from them which is so bad,” she said.

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So far, the Eastern Region has recorded 41 confirmed COVID-19 cases. It is among the 10 out of 16 regions in Ghana to have been hit with the virus.

The Greater Accra region is the worst-hit with a total of 514 cases.

Ghana’s borders have all been shut with some cities put under a partial lockdown to contain the spread of the virus.

These cities are Accra, Tema, Kasoa and Kumasi in the Ashanti Region.

As of April 17, 2020, some 641 persons had tested positive for the virus with 83 fully recovered and discharged whiles eight others succumbed to the disease.