Health Secretary Humza Yousaf has called out the racist hate mail that pours into his social media accounts and revealed he has received counselling to cope.
In an exclusive interview with the Daily Record yesterday Humza apologised to patients for the lengthy waiting times in Scotland’s hospitals and pledged to leave “no stone unturned” to try to avoid a winter crisis in our hospitals.
But he has now hit out at racist abuse he receives saying he is being targeted due to his Asian heritage - and not because of failings in the NHS.
He said: “The most difficult part of this job is the level of abuse. I am not trying to play ‘poor me’ because people should be angry about the state of the health service, they have every right to be.
“But when people threaten my family or children, or in this case wish death upon me, it is another level.”
The constant barrage of abuse is so bad that Yousaf no longer checks his Twitter notifications, leaving them to members of his team to deal with and they report anything particularly threatening.
He said: “I have to take measures to protect myself. I don’t look at Twitter notifications and don’t use it much apart from tweeting about the health service. You have to protect your own mental health.”
Yousaf added: “One of the best things I ever did in my life a number of years ago was to take some counselling.
“I did so because there was a lot going on and the abuse I was getting was really draining me.
“I remember thinking this is what rock bottom feels like.
“I was not in a good place.
“The counselling put me back in control and gave me the tools to cope and how to deal with this abuse.
“I remember once the counsellor said if I was to get the abuse in the street I would not value their opinion and I would certainly not invite then into my home but what you are doing on Twitter and social media is inviting them into your personal space and giving them that importance in your life.”
But he admitted: “That has really helped me to cope but I would be lying to you if I said it didn’t have some kind of impact, particularly when it targets my family.
“I had one message which said ‘I saw you in the supermarket the other day and I felt like smacking you across the face’.
“When I go to the supermarket I am usually accompanied by my wife and kids.
“And I have had someone post my home address on Facebook.
“When it starts to affect my family that’s when I feel it.”
Last week Humza received a message saying: “Hey man I just wanna say I hope you die of aids and cancer ok, b***h ass.”
The message abused him for being a “f*****g sandmuncher”, f*****g camel-f****r” and concluded: “Die. And f**k you”.
Yousaf revealed: “That is a fairly regular occurrence and fairly typical.
“It is not necessarily people who are upset about the health service but I am afraid since the advent of social media, and Twitter in particular, that is the level of hatred and Islamaphobia abuse I get.
“I am not sure if any other politician, barring the First Minister, has been on the receiving end of the same amount of abuse.”
He said he also receives support from across Scotland as an Asian politician, saying: “Having allies on this subject, including the Daily Record, who have stood very firmly with me on this from day one, does help.”
But he said: “The abuse comes directed my way mainly when here are other events.
“There was a flurry on the back of the Paris attacks, a flurry on the back of me and my wife speaking out about discrimination towards my daughter and I saw a reaction when I was taking the Hate Crime Bill through parliament. Far right commentators across the world picked up on that.
“I am not sure what the reason for the message last week was but the trigger could have been that it was the week someone was found guilty of sending me threatening and abusive messages with racial aggravation.”
