Finally some hope as Aids 'cure' clinics are shut
If there is one thing that is very cruel, it is taking advantage of the desperately poor and sick. The good news today is that several clinics that had colluded with with a city based evangelist (to falsely make HIV +ve patients believe that they have been cured) have now been shut down. See Nation story
Now that is a step in the right direction. According to reports that first appeared in the Sunday Nation, desperate HIV +ve Kenyans were parting with hundreds of thousands of shillings to get miraculously cured by evangelist Lucy Nduta. see story.
It is sad that the said evangelist Nduta was even daring enough to chastise those who had tried to have alternative HIV tests to confirm if they were indeed cured. She wanted them to believe her word and not use their own common sense. It is shocking that such a thing can happen in this day and age. Of course, many found out that there was no such thing as a miracle cure (at least for now) and they learnt this the hard way; after parting with their hard earned cash. Some had even taken loans to finance their cure.
If it is indeed true that the evangelist has swindled people (for I am relying on media reports) and sent them to some dubious unregistered clinics to have them 'tested' and told that they are now cured.... then she has defiled the institutions of faith. She needs to face the law.
The problem is not confined to Kenya alone. In the UK, the question of alternative therapies has also raised serious doubts. The National Health Service (the NHS) is also facing charges that it has helped support the growth of therapies that might not serve the public that well. One doctor even claimed that the NHS was funding 'bogus' therapies while patients were struggling to find drugs like Herceptin (for curing cancer). The story is bound to kick off a storm in medical circles.
(See BBC Story: Doctors attack 'bogus' therapies)
Kenyans will watch the developments of the Lucy Nduta saga with interest. If she is not prosecuted, that would be a slap in the face of all those Kenyans who have been swindled and are now coming to terms that they are still HIV +ve and not cured as they were allegedly told by the evangelist. The government should crack down not just on Nduta but also all those herbalists (African and Chinese) who run similarly dubious clinics targeting those infected and affected by the AIDS pandemic.
Now that is a step in the right direction. According to reports that first appeared in the Sunday Nation, desperate HIV +ve Kenyans were parting with hundreds of thousands of shillings to get miraculously cured by evangelist Lucy Nduta. see story.
It is sad that the said evangelist Nduta was even daring enough to chastise those who had tried to have alternative HIV tests to confirm if they were indeed cured. She wanted them to believe her word and not use their own common sense. It is shocking that such a thing can happen in this day and age. Of course, many found out that there was no such thing as a miracle cure (at least for now) and they learnt this the hard way; after parting with their hard earned cash. Some had even taken loans to finance their cure.
If it is indeed true that the evangelist has swindled people (for I am relying on media reports) and sent them to some dubious unregistered clinics to have them 'tested' and told that they are now cured.... then she has defiled the institutions of faith. She needs to face the law.
The problem is not confined to Kenya alone. In the UK, the question of alternative therapies has also raised serious doubts. The National Health Service (the NHS) is also facing charges that it has helped support the growth of therapies that might not serve the public that well. One doctor even claimed that the NHS was funding 'bogus' therapies while patients were struggling to find drugs like Herceptin (for curing cancer). The story is bound to kick off a storm in medical circles.
(See BBC Story: Doctors attack 'bogus' therapies)
Kenyans will watch the developments of the Lucy Nduta saga with interest. If she is not prosecuted, that would be a slap in the face of all those Kenyans who have been swindled and are now coming to terms that they are still HIV +ve and not cured as they were allegedly told by the evangelist. The government should crack down not just on Nduta but also all those herbalists (African and Chinese) who run similarly dubious clinics targeting those infected and affected by the AIDS pandemic.
posted by Kelele Leo @ 12:04 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home