By Abdulai Fasineh Dumbuya
The Executive Director of the Sierra Leone Association of Persons with Albinism, Mohamed Osman Kamara, has expressed concern at what he said are the prejudices persons with albinism face in state -owned institutions in the country and want their protection under law.
Speaking in an interview on Thursday 18th of August 2023, Kamara said that they are facing discrimination in their everyday life.
He said they are people with disability and should be given the same opportunities that people generally with disability should be entitled to by law such as access to free medical, education, transport and public space.
“The persons with disability Act of 2011 gives us the right to get free medical education... but yet with all this in law, we still do not have access to them," he said.
In response to the impact of lack of access, he said that many of his albino friends have died as a result of medical challenges which he said should be a cause for concern to the state authorities, considering the challenges albinos face.
He pleaded that state institutions work in accordance with the Act of 2011 – saying the Act is loosely active, so state- owned institutions are not responding to the values and dictates of the Act itself.
"Section 17 subsection (1) states that every person with disability shall be provided with free medical services in public health institutions," the Act reads.
It is against this backdrop that Kamara expressed the need for them to access free health care services among others, but noted that the disability Act of 2011 is not in practice by state institutions. He said disability issues should be taken seriously.
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