The Permanent Secretary of the Lagos Primary Healthcare Board, Dr Kayode Oguntimehin, has reiterated the call by the Lagos State Government on Nigerians to stop the stigmatisation of discharged Ebola victims, insisting they are the safest persons to be around.
“Someone who has been treated for Ebola and has come out of that treatment centre is probably the safest person you could be around because that person cannot get infected and cannot give it to you”, he said as a guest on Sunrise daily, on Wednesday.
He also warned that people are more at risk when they think they are running to safety from the discharged people, adding that “if somebody comes out and we say they should pack out of the house, they should not come to work; we are terminating their appointments; it sends the wrong signal”.
He further said infected people will refuse to turn themselves to the authorities if they knowg that they will be ostracised by the society, insisting that the “only way you can stop this illness, is if it doesn’t get to the next person.
“If I know that I have this disease and I know that if I come out and I am treated, I am going to be ostracised by the community and turned into a pariah, why will I come out” maintaining that “we are not really protecting ourselves by trying to stigmatise these people; on the other hand we are doing the opposite”, he said.
He called on Nigerians to have a rethink about stigmatising discharged victims because it it is getting so worrisome that some of the health workers are being stigmatised, noting that “these people are actually unsung heroes”.
Dr Oguntimehin further wondered why, instead of acknowledging health workers who have had less than five hours of sleep for the the past 52 days, since the problem started, are being pushed away, noting that “if others outside our shores are appreciative of what others are doing, I find it very disturbing that our people are not giving them the accolades that they deserve, instead they are being threatened left right and centre.
“I hope our people will change this attitude because if we drive these people away, who do we think is going to help us contain this”, he asked, insisting that containing the disease is the main trick not letting it explode.
He however expressed worry that some health workers are also guilty of stigmatising either sick or discharged patients, wondering “what others would do” if “those who are supposed to know (better) are also engaged in the act”.
Dr Oguntimehin warned culprits to desist from the act because the government is willing to apply the big stick and urged them “to have a rethink and realise that these people need to be embraced within the society” insisting that “they are extremely safe”.
Lagos State To Prosecute Case Of Stigmatisation
The Lagos State Government had said on Tuesday it will 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.
