A prominent clinical psychologist says his own experience of being tested for Covid-19 has given him a dramatic insight into the stigma and shame that people affected by the disease face. Photo / NZME
A prominent clinical psychologist says his own experience of being tested for Covid-19 has given him a dramatic insight into the stigma and shame that people affected by the disease face. Photo / NZME
A prominent clinical psychologist says his own experience of being tested for Covid-19 has given him new insight into the stigma and shame that people affected by the disease face.
Dr Sarb Johal, whose results have come back negative, said he and his family's ordeal has highlighted the need forpeople to listen to official health advice – and to be empathetic to those who may have become infected.
Johal and his wife figured their family may have been at risk last week, when their 2-year-old daughter had become ill days after being in contact with a friend who had returned from Melbourne.
"[Our friend] wasn't symptomatic, but we thought we should probably give Healthline a call. When my daughter woke up the next morning, she was burning up."
Given the overseas link, Healthline advised the family to get tested.
"There was a whole mix of feelings going on. One was, 'oh my God, we had a visitor from overseas, why did we do that?' We were really just picking apart our own behaviour.
"And then there was a whole lot of worry and anxiety. If this came back positive, well, my wife has asthma and this was going to be a really big challenge for her ... possibly life-threatening.
Dr Sarb Johal. Photo / Twitter
"At that point, we didn't know who we needed to tell, and we didn't have any firm information."
The testing had to be carried out in the car park at their local clinic, as it was still setting up a facility.
"Whilst we were preparing this test, we could see staff members having their lunch. I was thinking, this isn't ideal. There was a little bit of shame there.
"But we were doing the right thing, even though we kind of felt under a bit of scrutiny. We were just going to have to buckle up and get through it."
Johal likened it to an out-of-body experience: "It was almost like I was watching it happen to someone else."
But he remembered that he wasn't alone – thousands of other cases have now been tested in New Zealand - and that his family hadn't been at any fault.
"It's like a roulette wheel. We can take action to reduce our risk, but we may still be unfortunate enough to have crossed paths with this thing."
For people who felt they met the criteria for testing, contacting Healthline was the right thing to do.
"Let them make the decision as to what it is that you need to do next and then adhere to that advice."
And he urged others to show understanding – and not rush to abuse or stigmatise suspected or confirmed cases who were trying to take the right steps.
