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A Black doctor has detailed the racism she frequently faces from being called a "Black b***h" by patients to being mistaken as the "cleaner" in a TikTok video that's garnered thousands of views.
“I do get a lot of racist comments,” Dr. Yaa Oheema, 26, told Kennedy News, per the New York Post. “There’s always at least one moment or situation every shift.”
Oheema, a London emergency room doctor, said she regularly is asked whether she's a "nurse" or janitor even though she wears a lanyard that depicts her position.
“Even after I have spent an hour with a patient, I could get asked, ‘When’s the real doctor coming in?’" Dr. Oheema explained of the "horrible" ongoing work experience that often leaves her in tears.
In a TikTok video sparking outrage, the London doctor further reveals some of the worst racist comments she receives, which include patients allegedly remarking “They let anyone become doctors, don’t they?;" “Can I speak to the actual doctor?;” and “You must be one of the good ones.”
Per the video, other patients have called Oheema a "Black b***h" and inquired about what village she came from "in Africa."
“Because of the way I look and the way that I speak, I guess to some people, I don’t fit their idea of what a doctor should be,” Oheema said.
The emergency room doctor added that she tries to brush off the racially insensitive statements, but some days she feels "quite emotional" and has "a little cry" away from the patients.
Oheema also noted that her “colleagues have had similar experiences.”
“They’ll get a lot of comments like, ‘I can’t understand your accent’ or similar comments to mine where they’re mistaken for the cleaner,” she said. “There’s quite a lot of sexism, ageism, and racism. The world is changing, but some patients still haven’t adapted.”
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