Participants at an AIDS workshop have appealed to the government to absorb the National Health Insurance Scheme registration fee for AIDS patients. They said if that were done, HIV/AIDS would be seen as any other disease that was covered under the NHIS and this would reduce the stigma attached to it. The Catholic Relief Services (CRS) organized the workshop on Thursday for leaders from the church, the traditional council and the community at Koforidua. The Programmes Coordinator of the CRS, Ms Jennifer Adjei, said despite the heavy subsidy paid on ART drugs, most of the AIDS patients could not afford it. She said families have neglected AIDS patients and due to ill health these patients cannot work and could not buy the drug. Ms Adjei said though the CRS was not supplying the drugs to patients, it had been assisting some of them to buy the drug. She said the major challenge now in the eradication of the pandemic was the stigma attached to it. The Director of Matthew 25, an AIDS care centre in the region, Rev Fr Bobby Benson, expressed the hope that having gone through the challenging situations of the victims, the participants would understand the pandemic better. Source: GNA