The Coalition of Civil Society Network about AIDS in Nigeria on Saturday called for the immediate sanctioning of a nurse for allegedly stigmatising an HIV positive client.
The call followed what the organisation termed a “stigmatising and discriminatory post against an HIV-positive client” by a nurse, Ejimbe Lilliane who allegedly worked in a Port Harcourt-based hospital on Facebook.
Such action, the CSN said, is a violation of the 2014 Anti Stigma Act signed into law on February 2015 by former President Goodluck Jonathan.
The first Co-Chairman of the coalition, Mr Ikenna Nwakamma, described the action of the nurse as a “flagrant violation of the Anti Stigma law.”
Nwakanma who said that the nurse should be sanctioned stressed that it would serve as a deterrent to others.
According to him: “Coalition of Civil Society Network about AIDS in Nigeria demands that justice be served on the nurse with Port Harcourt hospital.
“She disclosed the identity and made a stigmatising statement about an HIV positive client.”
The civil society co-chairman called for collective condemnation of stigmatisation, saying it was a constitutional breach.
He explained that it was time for health workers, particularly the union of nurses, to bring the nurse to book to restore the confidence of people living with the virus.
(NAN)
