A black NHS doctor has revealed that she is constantly mistaken for the hospital CLEANER while working to save lives in A&E.
Yaa Oheema has been quizzed on how she managed to get a job, have patients demand to see a 'real doctor, and question her skillset.
The horrific abuse regularly takes place while the 26-year-old is sporting her lanyard ID - leaving her left in floods of tears over vile racist comments.
Although she often resorts to ignoring the bigoted jabs, Yaa has shared a selection of the shocking comments to highlight the daily abuse black doctors endure.
Yaa, from Southwark, south London, said: "I do get a lot of racist comments like 'are you sure you're not the nurse or the cleaner?' Even when I have 'doctor' on my lanyard.
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"Even after I have spent an hour with a patient, I could get asked 'when's the real doctor coming in?' It's horrible.
"When the comments come from white people, it tends to come from the older population.
"I guess it comes from experience and ignorance, where they haven't adapted to the way things are now.
"I had a patient say to me 'back in my day, black people didn't go to university, how have you become a doctor?' It's just people being ignorant.
"When I get comments from other ethnic minority patients, they tend to be middle-aged.
"The comments tend to come out when we don't give them what they want. Like if they ask to be signed off for six months, even though their injury doesn't need that length of recovery time.
"When I say no, that's when 'you black b**ch' and 'I want a real doctor' come out."
Working in a South London hospital, Yaa admits to being surprised by the frequency of the racism as she works in such a diverse hospital.
Yaa said: "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.
"When I was training to be a doctor, it was in the back of the mind that I might be treated differently due to the colour of my skin.
"But I thought, working in London, that wouldn't be as much of an issue. London is very diverse so it came as a big shock. I work in a diverse hospital with a diverse population.
"The fact this still happens is very shocking.
"A lot of my 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.
"There's quite a lot of sexism, ageism and racism. The world is changing but some patients still haven't adapted."
Yaa, who primarily works in A&E, says she sadly encounters this kind of behaviour on a regular basis.
Yaa said: "I work in A&E so the racist abuse happens a lot because there tends to be frustrations. There's always at least one moment or situation every shift.
"My reaction depends on my headspace on that day. Sometimes I find myself speaking in more medical terms just to impress on the patient that I am a doctor.
"Usually I'd speak more informally or use colloquial language so they understand it better.
"Other days, I can feel quite emotional about the comments and take myself off to have a little cry.
"The more abusive comments hurt the most because they're choosing those words to hurt me.
"When it comes to the ignorant comments, I do take into account whether the person realises what they're saying.
"You can call security if you are getting racially abused, but we're understaffed.
"Security can take 30 minutes to come, and once you've stepped outside of the room, the patient's story will change.
"So a lot of the time, I just end up ignoring it."
Since sharing the video on TikTok on July 15th, Yaa has been flooded with multiple comments from sympathetic users - some of whom have had similar experiences.
Yaa said: "I shared these comments on TikTok to raise awareness about the day-to-day life of a black doctor. My whole TikTok is about challenging stereotypes about doctors.
"A lot of commenters were saying 'that's horrible', and other people were giving their own examples.
"Some people thought I was lying, which I thought was odd. Why would I lie about somebody being racist? I have no reason to do that.
"But the majority of comments were from people who were horrified."
TikTok commenters rallied around to offer Yaa their support.
One said: "In 2022!!! I have no words. Keep winning Queen!!!"
Another commented: "Sounds exhausting. Well, I appreciate you and I would love to be treated by a black woman."
A fellow medical worker wrote: "I'm a nurse, I often got, 'get your black hands off me!' I responded 'I'm so glad you know your colours, congratulations!'."
