As the cases of patients recovering from Covid-19 increase day by day, the government through the Ministry of Health is working on a plan to use recovered patients as ambassadors.
The news was delivered by Health CAS Mercy Mwangangi on Wednesday, April 29, at Afya House, while addressing journalists where she announced that the number of recovered patients had reached 129 after 5 more were discharged.
"Since we reported the first Covid-19 case, we have reported many cases of people who have successfully undergone treatment and recovered to go home.
"We are glad that the number of recoveries keeps rising day by day and today we discharged five additional patients bringing the number of recovered patients to 129,'' she stated.
The CAS urged Kenyans to be kind to the recovered patients in their integration process back to society adding that most of them were facing a lot of stigma from people around them.
'''While we celebrate the recoveries, we are disturbed that the process of re-integration has not been easy for others as they continue to face stigmatisation. This is quite unfortunate considering our constant appeal and massive education across platforms that this disease is just like any other disease.
''I appeal to Kenyan to be considerate and welcome these people when they are discharged, from now on we shall take additional and deliberate steps to partner with patients who have recovered to help create awareness of the disease," she added.
Ten more cases were confirmed, one in Nairobi and nine in Mombasa from 508 samples tested across 14 counties in 24 hours bringing total cases in the country to 384.
Cases of recovered patients in the country facing stigmatisation from the communities they live in have been on the rise with one woman being ostracised by her family despite having documents showing she did not even turn positive when she was under mandatory quarantine.
CAS Mwangani also shared another disturbing story of a recovered patient who was battling stigma after returning home.
"Just this morning, we had a briefing from one of our recovered cases from ICU.
"As he was telling his story, he shared disturbing events with regard to how he has been accepted back to the community, issues and experiences that have not been pleasant for him and his family," the CAS narrated.
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