DOCTOR DESCRIBES RACISM AFTER COVID-19 OUTBREAK
After months of harassment and racist remarks, the doctor at the centre of a COVID-19 controversy that rocked New Brunswick says his life has been changed entirely.
Dr. Jean Robert Ngola, a physician of Congolese descent, said in a recent interview the fallout from allegations he was “patient zero” responsible for an outbreak put him under an uncomfortable spotlight.
“Since May ... everything has changed in my life,” Ngola said by phone.
And now he wants the province to investigate his case to ensure nobody else endures a similar fate.
On May 27, in the face of a growing outbreak in Campbellton, N.B., Premier Blaine Higgs referred to an “irresponsible” health-care worker and said the matter was being handled by the RCMP. The outbreak eventually affected 40 people and resulted in two deaths.
News got out that Ngola, a family doctor working in the northern New Brunswick town at the time, was the suspect in the RCMP'S investigation after his positive COVID-19 status was leaked on social media.
Ngola says a deluge of harassment and racist taunts followed, both online and in person, as the investigation unfolded into an overnight trip he took to Quebec.
Before he tested positive, Ngola had driven to Montreal to pick up his daughter, because her mother was travelling to Africa to attend a funeral. On his way back to New Brunswick, he met with two colleagues in the Trois-rivieres, Que., area before completing his trip, according to his lawyer, Joel Etienne. He did not self-isolate for two weeks when he returned, as provincial health guidelines direct, but Ngola has said that was consistent with the practice of other physicians at his hospital.
Although he had already been planning to move to Quebec, Ngola hastened his departure because he didn't feel safe in Campbellton, he said.
Recently, however, he has been heartened after receiving a letter of support from fellow doctors in Canada.
Though the RCMP investigation was dropped, Ngola still faces a charge of violating the province's Emergency Measures Act and has a court date set for Oct. 26.
Now, Etienne and his associates are calling for a probe into the handling of Ngola's case. After his initial positive test, Ngola had three negative ones, possibly indicating a false positive, his team argues, which would make it impossible for him to have triggered the outbreak.