No cured leper should suffer social exclusion

No cured leper should face social exclusion and stigmatization but should be treated with dignity, Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia said on Sunday during this year’s World Leprosy Day held at the Weija Leprosarium, Accra.

Speaking on the theme for the celebration: “Unity in Dignity “Dr Bawumia said cured lepers were intelligent as everyone and shouldn’t be shunned but should be comforted and welcomed into society.

He described the theme as apt because it created awareness about the disease, noting that anyone could contract it since about 200,000 people worldwide were diagnosed of leprosy every year.

The Vice President explained that leprosy was caused by bacteria and not hereditary and, therefore, called for concerted efforts by all Ghanaians to support the Lepers Aid Committee to enhance the welfare of both lepers and cured lepers.

Vice President Bawumia, a Patron of the Lepers Aid Committee, donated GH¢50,000 to support the work of the Committee.

“We are here because we care. It is not everybody who will wake up on Sunday morning to Weija Leprosarium to commemorate World Leprosy Day just like that.

“You must care about the disease and so I thank you all for being here today and for your kindness,”Dr Bawumia stressed.

The Vice President alluded that many people shun and stigmatize lepers and “love them from a distance,” saying that it was time we stop the marginalisation and make practical the bible teaching of, “loving thy neighbour as thy self”.

Rev. Father Andrew Campbell, an advocate of lepers, underlined the need for government and other corporate entities in the country to allocate sufficient resources towards the welfare of lepers and cured lepers.