The Lagos State Government has said that it would prosecute any person, group or organisation that stigmatises a patient who has been treated of the the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) and duly discharged.
The Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris, who made Government’s intention known while giving an update on the EVD in the State at the Bagauda Kaltho Press Centre, Alausa, directed any concerned person, who has experienced stigmatisation, to petition the Attorney-General of the State from where the Government would take up the case.
Idris noted that there had been one or two cases of such stigmatisation in the State,while pointing at the eviction of contacts or treated patients from their places of accommodation, such persons being asked to stay away from work or outright termination of employment of such persons.
He reiterated that infection by Ebola Virus Disease was not a death sentence and appealed to members of the public, including employers of labour, to desist from stigmatising persons or laying off their workers who either have been treated and given a clean bill of health or are contacts under surveillance, describing the action as unfair and an infringement on their fundamental right to freedom of association and employment.
Click here to read the full text of the Lagos State government’s statement.
