the television, radio, prints and social media monitored over the last month suggests that recovered patients of COVID-19 are not readily accepted by their own families, communities, friends and sometimes at work places. The rejection could be so intense that even immediate family members like children, wives and others can be affected.
Mr Speaker, in one report, a child who wanted to buy food, was denied access because his father had returned home after recovering from COVID- 19 pandemic. In the video clip shown in the social media, the child who was referred to as “Coroboy” was asked to return to his “corohouse” where his “corofather” had returned home.
Mr Speaker, this cannot be right, the assignment of negative stereotypes or branding of people who have recovered from Coronavirus can be attributed to lack of awareness, knowledge or proper education. I say so because of the following: a patient infected with the Coronavirus antigen develops an immune response (antibodies) to defend himself.
On recovery, when the patient has tested negative for the second time, the antibodies however remain protecting the recovered patient for
some time. The patient is said to have some form of a partial immunity against Coronavirus.
Mr Speaker, the recovered patient is stronger than the non-affected because he has antibodies to protect him for some time. He also does not pose a threat to anyone because after all, he has tested negative on two occasions.
Mr Speaker, in some countries such as Australia, Germany and Chile, there have been talks of issuing immunity passports to enable those who have recovered to return to normal life. However, at this point of the pandemic, there is no evidence about the complete effectiveness of antibody mediated immunity. In the event that the pandemic takes a worse turn, and overwhelms our frontline medical staff, scientifically, those who have recovered from COVID-19 is the group of choice to potentially assist as volunteers in our hospitals and other healthcare facilities.
Mr Speaker, in conclusion, these recovered patients are our heroes and heroines. They are not our villains and under no circumstances should they be castigated. I therefore appeal to the mass media, the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE), the health education and
promotion unit of the Ministry of Health, the Association of Clinical Psychologists and all of us to join in the fight against stigmatisation, discrimination and the fear against recovered COVID-19 patients.
Mr Speaker, I thank you.
