Testing positive for COVID-19 is not a sin – Mahama Ayariga
Bawku Central Member of Parliament, Mahama Ayariga, has stressed on the need for covid-19 positive patients to come clean on their results, irrespective of the stigma they face.
“If l am tested and l turn out to be positive, what’s wrong with that. You don’t test positive by committing an offence or sin, so I don’t see why we have to argue about this. There’s nothing wrong with announcing that this person is positive,” he said.
The statement comes on the heel of the announcement of the test results of two MPs and 13 parliamentary staffers who reportedly tested positive for coronavirus. It has since been followed by denials and clarifications that point to the fact that the unnamed lawmakers indeed contracted the virus.
While elsewhere, including Nigeria, the legislators are announcing their positive results, the fear of stigmatization has kept most influential people who contracted the disease mute.
But wading into the controversies, generated by the announcement of the two MPs status, the Bawku Central MP said there was nothing wrong with one announcing his or her test result.
“So right from the beginning if we accept that it is something that is normal then and this is something that you have got into contact with through no fault of yours, then there’ll not be stigmatisation,” he said on Citi TV’s Big issue.
Opinions are divided over the disclosure of the COVID-19 test results.
A school of thought argued that it violated the doctor- patient confidentiality rule for identities of COVID-19 patients to be revealed.
But others think coming out with it would rather help reduce stigma in the country.
Two MPs, parliamentary staff asked to self-quarantine over COVID-19 scare
Stigma is a major reason for which carriers of HIV/AIDS struggle to make their status public. This is in spite of improved public awareness about the disease.