Dangerous! When Medical Doctors Believe in God

[keen observer]

That should have been the title. What a backward country.


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By Kofi Akosah-Sarpong

Veteran Ghanaian journalist Elizabeth Ohene, of BBC fame, disclosure that out of 45 Ghanaian medical students surveyed 41 believe witchcraft is responsible for existential problems; once again, reveal the immense obstacles entangling the Ghanaian development process. Here the medical students stand on unstable medical universe, where Ghanaians’ inhibitive cultural values easily play into their rational, medical minds. This is consequential. These have lethal implications for Ghanaians’ wellbeing.

This also will partly becloud their greater reasoning needed to enlighten the Ghanaian/African progress path. If a medical doctor, who is supposed to be one of the top scientists, believes irrational, primordial witchcraft is responsible for cancer, early deaths, TB, malaria or diabetes then Ghana`s progress is largely suspicious, the foundation risky.
For, before the medical doctor starts examining a patient, she or he has already placed disturbing limits on his/her reasoning and this surely would undermine the possibilities of advancement and the tackling of extremely complicated medical challenges.
Why will a Ghanaian medical doctor, trained like any other the world over, think witchcraft, a devastating believe that has disabled Ghanaian/African greater progress for so long, is the cause of earthly problems?
The medical students think like that simply because they were born into a culture part of which socializes its people into believing in witchcraft, demons, devils and evil spirits for existential challenges. The trouble is in the medical students’ brains and the culture that formed it. At the centre of the students’ brain are the simultaneous skirmishes between irrationality and rationality that are largely fuelled by the Ghanaian/African culture. In the medical students’ head, the irrational parts are very ancient and think more with the superstitious component.
However, because of the culture the medical students’ were born into, the irrational parts of their brains have outweighed their rational parts, hence their strong believe, despite their supposedly long university education, that witchcrafts are the cause of diseases and other early challenges. The rational part of the medical students’ brain is supposed to think more with the objective element of their brains. But this has been entangled by the overwhelming irrational parts via certain inhibitive parts of the Ghanaian/African cultures that believe witchcraft is responsible for existential problems such as diseases.
This will place limits to the higher medical reasoning of the students.
Dr. Mensah-Bonsu, an Ottawa, Canada based social policy consultant and a former chair of Ghana’s Peoples National Congress (PNC), one of the minority political parties, experienced first-hand how a medical doctor’s believe in witchcraft translates negatively into his or her working environment. Dr. Mensah-Bonsu had gone to Ghana’s premier hospital, Korle Bu, in Accra, to visit a family member admitted there. In the course of his interactions, Dr. Mensah-Bonsu overheard a middle aged medical doctor remarking sarcastically that if the patients have been bewitched by witches in their families that have caused their ailments; they shouldn’t come to Korle Bu to disturb the doctors.
The medical students would graduate and become like the apparently qualified Korle Bu doctor. In their brains will be circling simultaneously witchcraft believes and medical scientific methods, with the witchcraft, inhibitive believes dominating their objective, rational thinking because of the culture they were born into. That witchcraft has caused the diseases and the ailment of their sick patients and not poor sanitation and other human agencies. One cannot develop first class medical institutes if the main, supposedly highly trained people expected to think vastly, using their formidable training, are restricted by certain inhibitive cultural believes.
If the supposedly modern Ghanaian medical doctor, once again with long years of training, cannot extricate himself/herself from unscientific, primitive believes and has somehow receded into certain irrational traditional medicine, where diseases and ailments are interpreted in witchcrafts and evil spirits believes, then Ghanaian medical schools should be redesigned by Britain’s J.K. Rowling of the witchcraft-themed Harry Potter fantasy. Here J.K. Rowling will create the equivalent of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as found in her hugely popular Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.
But to do this, is to give more weight to forces of irrationality and take Ghana back to primitivity, where demons are believed to be responsible for diseases and the autocratic traditional medicine man/woman interprets ailments in these terms. Can Ghanaian medical doctors extricate themselves from such an environment and help rationalise the inhibitive values that have even entangled them?
The dilemma is seen in Elizabeth Ohene’s The Rhodesian Syndrome. “The truth is we live in three different centuries in this country, not just in terms of physical facilities. Those who live in the 21st Century try to simulate 21st Century conditions for themselves and do not want the 20th, never mind the 19th Century conditions and people to stray into their horizons. Every once in a while, you can pretend that you live in a modern and progressive country, but mercifully you bump with reality all the time. It might be a radio programme about witches. In your century, with your iPads and Samsung Galaxy Tabs, people do not believe in the existence of witches. But try and listen in on a class of medical students at our leading medical school. Out of 45 students, 41 of them believe witches do exist.”
A Ghanaian-Canadian lady said, “How can that happen … I won’t go to a medical doctor who believes in witches … how can such a doctor treat patients fully with a mind drenched in believes in witches?”
How complicated, dangerous and bizarre? The solution lies in more enlightenment in the development process, particularly teaching medical students the deadly implications of irrationally believing in witches as the cause of existential problems and using such mentality to treat sick patients.

Comments:
This article has 32 comments, give your comment

[Kofi Jolof]

KO don capitalize God

[NaMrecco$]

Its crazy... the thing is engraved in their heads since childhood..
we have been suffering from ages and stil we still think we should blame someone or pray to God to solve our problems instead using the given brain to come up with solutions...
some do not know how to distance religion or any other from their work... most ghanaians are naive anyways... read all the stories of women being taken advantage of by so called God messengers... with all the stories out there, it is still going on...

[KD]

KO don capitalize God

[keen observer]

Its crazy... the thing is engraved in their heads since childhood..
we have been suffering from ages and stil we still think we should blame someone or pray to God to solve our problems instead using the given brain to come up with solutions...
some do not know how to distance religion or any other from their work... most ghanaians are naive anyways... read all the stories of women being taken advantage of by so called God messengers... with all the stories out there, it is still going on...

If you are a Christian and u believe in what the bible say, then you must believe that witchcraft is real. You can't eat your cake and have it at the same time.

[Nana Adjei]

[quote="keen observer"]That should have been the title. What a backward country.


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KO, how is it dangerous when a medical doctor believes in God? The article is about witchcraft, how did you manage to insert God into the article beats my mind. I know, you are going to say that believing in witchcraft is no different from believing in God which I will respond, nonsense.

[keen observer]

KO, how is it dangerous when a medical doctor believes in God? The article is about witchcraft, how did you manage to insert God into the article beats my mind. I know, you are going to say that believing in witchcraft is no different from believing in God which I will respond, nonsense.

U cannot believe that god exists, and not believe that witchcraft is real. Those things are not mutually exclusive.

U believe in god, you believe in satan. It is not simple. Unless you are in some sort of denial.
Every religion, i have heard of, Christianity, Islam, ATR all believe in a god and a satan. No?

[loner]

Yes KO, I believe in God.
witchcrafts, satan, evil, demons, etc exist. If u don't understand go burn the sea.

[Nana Adjei]

Its crazy... the thing is engraved in their heads since childhood..
we have been suffering from ages and stil we still think we should blame someone or pray to God to solve our problems instead using the given brain to come up with solutions...
some do not know how to distance religion or any other from their work... most ghanaians are naive anyways... read all the stories of women being taken advantage of by so called God messengers... with all the stories out there, it is still going on...

If you are a Christian and u believe in what the bible say, then you must believe that witchcraft is real. You can't eat your cake and have it at the same time.

And if I do, does it make me any less of a person than I am. Let me say to your hearing, I am a Christian and unapologetically so. I seriously believe in God. Now if you think my belief system makes me any less than I am, bring it on and we can have some serious conversation.

[Akokora Gyeene]

Soccer related?

[Q' lypse]

KO oo KO, free your feelings

[keen observer]

x
And if I do, does it make me any less of a person than I am. Let me say to your hearing, I am a Christian and unapologetically so. I seriously believe in God. Now if you think my belief system makes me any less than I am, bring it on and we can have some serious conversation.

Where did i suggest that it makes you less of a person? Suffering from some kind of complex?

[keen observer]

Soccer related?

STFU, when you ask Deciiva to keep using Bible quotes, do you stop to ask yourself whether it is soccer related or not?

[KAYSEBEE]

Soccer related?

Masa allow. It's been a while since i enjoyed myself here. Let me grab some popcorn and my fanta.

[KAYSEBEE]

Soccer related?

STFU, when you ask Deciiva to keep using Bible quotes, do you stop to ask yourself whether it is soccer related or not?

Misfiring tough. Deciiva doesn't start a whole thread on bible quotes. As u rightly said...he 'uses them' in his post..he doesn't create a whole thread just to talk abt it.

[Turbo Turbulance]

Why are some of you shocked ? And those acting like they're shocked also believe in witchcraft, when ya'll were kids and got sick, your parents, instead of taking you to the doctor, took your arsses to the jujuman for traditional healing, and you got healed, so STFU !!

[Nana Adjei]

x
And if I do, does it make me any less of a person than I am. Let me say to your hearing, I am a Christian and unapologetically so. I seriously believe in God. Now if you think my belief system makes me any less than I am, bring it on and we can have some serious conversation.

Where did i suggest that it makes you less of a person? Suffering from some kind of complex?

"Suffering from some kind of complex?" Dude, speak for yourself; my identity is intact. Perhaps you've forgotten where you started the conversation. If you cannot remember your position on people who believe in God on this forum, then you are suffering from Romnesia and you need Obamacare for cure

[AfroSamurai]

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Before obroni came to our continent, the medicine men and women in old times could cure/heal diseases/illnesses through their observations in the reality from nature with plants experimenting through trial and error (the basic natural way of science, as obroni also apply in the same way till recent day). Death also occur during that time in case of not getting for the illnesses the right mixed medicine. The gain knowledge was passover to the next generation which must have to kept developing further.
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Obroni came to our continent, brought us religion, god and jesus christ since then the fundamental knowledge from our forefathers got lost.
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The article is just reflecting the reality facts which can not be denied.
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This is an evidence which shows, when it comes to this topic how people start accusing each other and the most religious people denied reality. Religion has killed more human beings than any diseases.
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[keen observer]

-
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Before obroni came to our continent, the medicine men and women in old times could cure/heal diseases/illnesses through their observations in the reality from nature with plants experimenting through trial and error (the basic natural way of science, as obroni also apply in the same way till recent day). Death also occur during that time in case of not getting for the illnesses the right mixed medicine. The gain knowledge was passover to the next generation which must have to kept developing further.
-
Obroni came to our continent, brought us religion, god and jesus christ since then the fundamental knowledge from our forefathers got lost.
-
The article is just reflecting the reality facts which can not be denied.
-
This is an evidence which shows, when it comes to this topic how people start accusing each other and the most religious people denied reality. Religion has killed more human beings than any diseases.
-
-

That explains why infant mortality was high!! yes that explains it. lazy bum!!