Wife of Ondo State Governor, Mr. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, Betty, has blamed religious organisations for high death rates being recorded in cancer due to their imaginary spiritual healings in spite of aggressive awareness and sensitisation done by non- governmental organisations (NGOs) dealing with cancer advocacy. Mrs Akeredolu disclosed this yesterday at the Inter School Arts Competition for selected secondary schools in Ibadan, Oyo State capital.
The governor’s wife, who is also the Founder of Breast Cancer Association of Nigeria (BRECAN), said that the activities of many religious organisations in respect of offering spiritual healing for cancer had become worrisome. She said that most women died of ignorance, blaming them for approaching spiritual places such as churches and mosques for miracles. Betty said: “I am kind of demoralised because even when BRECAN’s head office is in Ibadan, our women are still presenting their cases late because they keep going to these churches. “We have UCH (University College Hospital) around us here and they continue messing up our efforts.
“The man and woman of God will run away immediately they notice the breast gets rotten, knowing full well they can’t control the situation any longer. “Let our women listen, breast cancer is the easiest cancer you can handle these days due to the amount of research that has gone into it. “Breast is external, check it, go to hospital and stop parading miracle mountain, it has to stop in this country because I feel angry talking about late presentation in this country “Cervical cancer is 100 per cent preventable, we cannot use the word prevention for breast cancer, but we can stand on our feet and say cervical cancer is very preventable.