Prosecute pastors who keep AIDS sufferers

Story: A. Kofoya-Tetteh, Koforidua
March 25, 2008
THE Eastern Regional Director of the National AIDS Control Programme, Dr S.E. Ofori, has advocated the legislation for the prosecution of pastors and operators of prayer centres that keep AIDS sufferers till they reach terminal stages.
He said that would compel such pastors and prayer house operators to release the AIDS sufferers on time for treatment at the hospitals.
Dr Ofori made the call at a one-day sensitisation workshop on HIV/AIDS at Koforidua.
The workshop, which was on the theme: “Using the media to strengthen HIV/AIDS advocacy in the Eastern Region”, also focused on the need for one to know his or her HIV status.
It was attended by members of the media and District Directors of Health Services in the region.
Dr Ofori said although HIV/AIDS sufferers could be put on treatment at the hospitals to prolong their life, some pastors and operators of prayer houses normally kept them at their places until they reached terminal stages before releasing them.
He added that such sick persons who only reported to the hospitals almost in the terminal stages unfortunately passed away in no time, adding that an early response to treatment at the hospitals could have prevented such deaths.
He, therefore, called for the passage of a legislation for the prosecution of such pastors and prayer leaders who, he said, could not cure those who had contracted AIDS.
    “Now orthodox medicine can help prolong the life of such unfortunate persons but most often they are kept at these prayer houses for long periods for their conditions to be deteriorated so when they finally come to the hospitals to be put on antiretroviral drugs, they soon pass away,” Dr Ofori stated.
    He also advised AIDS sufferers not to combine medical treatment with that of herbs, since that method was not the best, stressing that the sufferers must always report to the hospitals for treatment on time.
The regional director appealed to health workers not to discriminate against AIDS sufferers at the hospitals.
A medical officer at the Koforidua Regional Hospital, Dr Efua Asabea Amoabeng, took the participants through the rudiments of HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care, and advised that every person should go for HIV counselling and testing to know their status.
She said that would make it possible for them to better plan their life.
The Eastern Region Focal Person on HIV/AIDS, Miss Golda Asante, who spoke on stigma and discrimination, said it was unfortunate that some health workers, relatives, landlords and employers discriminated against AIDS sufferers.
She, therefore, called for a change of such habit, which, she said, among others, infringed on the rights of the sufferers.
The Deputy Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Ofosu Asamoah, asked the media to drum home the negative effects of HIV/AIDS, which had now become a development problem, to curb its spread.