Don’t stigmatise coronavirus patients

The Northern Regional Coordinating Director, Alhaji Alhassan Issahaku, has appealed to Ghanaians to refrain from stigmatising against COVID-19 patients.

He said stigmatising against COVID-19 patients, has the tendency of drawing back efforts towards the fight against the virus.

According to him, stigmatisation has been identified by the Ghana Health Service (GHS) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) as one of the emerging challenges confronting the fight against the COVID-19 disease.

Alhaji Issahaku was speaking at the launching ceremony of the Northern Regional Police Command and Zoomlion Ghana Limited's disinfestation and disinfection exercise.

He entreated residents to see Covid-19 as any other disease, adding that everyone was vulnerable.

The virus, he explained, was no respecter of status or class in the society.

He, therefore, urged residents to pray to Almighty Allah to heal all the patients and grant health and strength to the health workers to enable them provide the needed healthcare to the patients.

COVID-19, he observed, was real and that residents must come to terms with it for the better.

He also urged the media to help project the Covid-19 patients who have recovered to prove to the world that they are as normal as we are.

There has been times we use certain measures to confine those who have tested positive so that they do not affect others and it is our men and women who have taken that risk of being affected and the least we can do is for us to prevent them from being affected he said.

Alhaji Issahaku reiterated the need for the people to observe the safety measures issued by the health authorities.

The exercise will cover all police facilities in Northern, Savannah and North East Regions.

The Northern Regional Manager of Savannah Waste Services, a subsidiary of Zoomlion Ghana Limited, Mr. Peter Dawuni, encouraged the public to show keen interest in the fight against COVID-19.

The fight against COVID-19, he said, was not an individual affair but rather a collaborative effort.

'We think that the Ghana Police was an important organ as far as the development and growth of Ghana was concerned and that is why we are taking this exercise seriously".

Mr. Dawuni believed the police are equally frontline worker and therefore must take the necessary precautionary measures to help curb the spread of the disease.

The Northern Regional Police Commander DCOP Yoosa Bonga expressed gratitude to Zoomlion and the government for their effort to ensure safe environment for personnel of the service.

He was optimistic that Zoomlion will display their expertise in bringing professionalism to play in the execution of the job and pledge the full support of his command.