Don’t shun cured lepers — Prez Mahama
President John Dramani Mahama has called on families to do away with the stigma associated with leprosy and reintegrate relatives who have been cured.
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That, he said, would enable the people who used to have the disease to live normal lives.
Leprosy is still one of the world's most stigmatised diseases.
In Ghana, even patients who are cured are often ostracised from their homes and communities.
During a visit to the Weija Leprosarium last Saturday, where the President presented a quantity of food items to the inmates, he said the situation could not be allowed to persist.
He said the disease was not contagious, especially when patients started receiving treatment up to the time they were completely cured.
The items included bags of rice, boxes of milk, soap, cooking oil, water, packs of toilet rolls and a bull.
Mr Mahama called for public education against the misconceptions about leprosy.
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Fulfilling promise
The donation was in fulfilment of a promise the President made some years back.
He also used the occasion to appeal to Christians and other charitable organisations to support the centre for it to continue to provide the needed care for inmates.
As a purely independent centre, the leprosarium depends on charity to operate.
Vulnerable
Mr Mahama said supporting the vulnerable and marginalised was a crucial part of governance.
Consequently, the government would continue to initiate programmes that would improve their living conditions.
He mentioned that beneficiaries of the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty( LEAP) programme would be increased from 150,000 to 200,000 households soon.
The government, he said, would also liaise with the Weija Leprosarium to source funds for the completion of projects at the Nkachana Leprosarium in Kpandai.
He recognised the good work Reverend Fr Andrew Campbell, an Irish SVD missionary, was doing for leprous patients in the country.
He said the support he had given to the centre and other humanitarian interventions on leprosy were tremendous.
Rev. Fr Campbell, who received the items on behalf of the centre, thanked President Mahama for the donation.
He said they would go a long way to bring some smiles to the faces of inmates.
He called on faith-based organisations to initiate educational programmes that would reduce the stigma on healed lepers.
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