By Micheal Atwakiire
Ntungamo: Eseza Sanyu 38 years of Itojo Sub County, Ruhama Constituency, Ntungamo District was on Monday 8 July reported dead after a pastor from Dove Global Ministries denied her from taking Antiretrovirals (ARV) medicines but to only pray and trust God for healing.
According to the deceased’s sister Peninah Kyogabeirwe, Sanyu was forced to stop taking her Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) medication by her pastor who requested other Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) positive church members to only pray to God for healing and abandon what he called the ‘Curse of Drugs’.
By the time Sanyu breathed her last on a Monday morning, she was vomiting blood that Doctors from Itojo Hospital confirmed resulted from a damaged Liver and spleen caused by abandonment of medication.
Leaders in Itojo Sub County called upon Government to halt Pentecostal churches that stop people from seeking and taking medication from health facilities to opt for healing prayers which they said had left many people’s lives disastrous.
The Itojo sub county chairperson Mr Ben Kwesigabo said, “This was the fifth incident in the Sub County in less than six months pastors duping believers into abandoning HIV drugs, I think religious leaders like these should be arrested and taken to Courts of Law, ” Kwesigaabo Said.
Pastor Keneth Beingana of Ruhanga Seventh Day Adventist Church also a clinical officer asked Government to regulate Churches because some are instead taking people directly to hell than heaven. He made these remarks meeting relatives at Itojo Hospital where they had gathered to receive remains of Eseza.
She had spent almost three weeks at Dove Global Ministries Church praying minus taking medication. The pastor of the church was arrested by Itojo police to explain more.
