World Health Organization (WHO) has reacted to a video making the rounds, alleging that the founder of Synagogue, Church Of All Nations, SCOAN, T.B Joshua healed a COVID-19 patient.
In its riposte, WHO stated that faith and science should “go together”.
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During an interactive press briefing organized on Wednesday 1st July 2020, a panel of top WHO officials was questioned on the miracle by Cameroonian journalist Simon Ateba of Today News Africa.
‘‘On Monday, a very popular pastor in Nigeria, T.B Joshua, released a video of a medical doctor in Cameroon who was said to have been cured of the virus through prayer,” Ateba stated, asking the panellists for their reaction.
In the video he referenced, Dr Kameni Pierre – a gynaecologist and obstetrician – receives prayer after affirming he was positive to coronavirus during an ‘Interactive Prayer Session’ organised by Emmanuel TV.
After ‘vomiting out’ the disease during prayer, the medical doctor held up his medical report days later confirming he was diagnosed negative to COVID-19.
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In response, Dr Michael Ryan, Executive Director of WHO Health Emergencies Programme, affirmed the readiness of WHO to collaborate with bodies like The SCOAN to advance the cause of the war against the deadly virus.
Certainly, spiritual leadership is very important in times like this,” Ryan stated, praising the role of faith-based organisations in providing accurate information to communities.
Speaking further, the WHO Director-General, Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus added that faith and science should “go together”.
We know many religious leaders who would really advise their followers to follow their faith and at the same time use science. The two do not contradict; they go together… We will call on all religious leaders to be in this fight and save lives,” he stated.
Ghebreyesus had earlier echoed TB Joshua’s prophecy where he declared 2020 “the year of humility” in which “God would humble us with our challenges”.
If this virus is teaching us anything, it is humility,” the former Ethiopian Minister of Health asserted.