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The health facility was the first to stigmatize us and that day, I can never forget the story. I speak with evidence. Probably today, they have changed but I know some of those old attitudes remain today. 21 years ago at the Tema General Hospital, when we did the [HIV] test, the nurse said ‘you and your wife are living with AIDS’. Then I asked, ‘what shall we do?’ Then she said, ‘You are going to die because all your predecessors who came couldn’t survive. They all died.’ Then she added that if I had any property, I could start selling them”. This was the sad story of a reverend father who was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS.
Speaking in a recent interview on MX24 TV, Rev. John Azumah said he couldn’t believe how a nurse at the Tema General Hospital was rude to him and told him that he was going to die.
According to him, he was expecting some consolation or kind words from the nurse, instead, he was told that he was going to die.
Reverend John Azumah further revealed that during his wife’s second pregnancy, she fell ill and couldn’t find the cause of the illness, despite visits to 13 hospitals.
They were later referred to the Tema General Hospital and after a series of tests which took three days because the samples were always taken to Korle Bu Teaching hospital the sad news struck them despite praying for days to avert any possibility.
According to him, his wife nearly committed suicide after the stigma coupled with their expulsion from the church in which he was a pastor.
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