Anderson Mwiti, a resident of Tharaka Nithi County who recently lost his wife, went viral on Sunday, August 2, as he demanded answers from the government.
Mwiti revealed that his wife developed complications at home on July 20, and they went to Chuka General Hospital where she passed away an admitted. According to Mwiti, he was informed by doctors at the hospital that the complications resulted from high blood sugar levels.
He was given four days to bury his wife and did so before his woes began as information spread in his locality that the Ministry of Health officials were looking for him and his contacts over Covid-19.
He blamed a public health official stationed at a dispensary in the Kano area for spreading the claim, demanding that the government come clean as he was experiencing serious stigmatization.
Mwiti revealed that he was unable to sustain an income as he had been shunned for jobs and opportunities due to his alleged Covid-19 status.
“This is tarnishing my name, the government must step in. I can’t send my children to the shop, they say they have Coronavirus. I myself can’t go to the shop, they say I have Covid-19.
“I can’t get any job, they say I have Coronavirus. That’s what I depend on to eat. I can’t go to the market. Everyone in the community is discriminating against me,” he stated.
He demanded that the government comes clean on the issue as he had been left alone to take care of his children following his wife’s death.
He questioned why the procedure for contract tracing and testing had not been followed if, indeed, his late wife had Covid-19.
“I want it to be known where the report came from. Where the laws and guidelines that inform such reports followed?
“The government should follow up and give me a document saying my wife died of Coronavirus. Or I should be tested and given results saying I am positive for Covid-19. But what I am seeing is malicious,” he stated.
Senior officials at the Ministry of Health were yet to respond to related queries made by the time of publication.
Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe had, however, previously dismissed the widely circulated theory that the government was reporting non-existent Covid-19 cases.
“If you are doubting the information we are giving you on the state of Coronavirus in the country, you can go to Mbagathi Hospital and confirm,” he stated in a past briefing.