Dr. Samson Akinpelu
Dr.Samson Akinpelu (MBBS) is an eclectic medical personnel who combines orthodox and traditional medicine, in addition to being the Head Pastor at Living God Freedom C&S Church, Alagbado, Lagos.
He recently wrote a book on the intersection between spirituality and medicine. In this interview with Adebayo Obajemu, he talks about his book, the state of healthcare in the country, among other issues.
You recently wrote a book titled ‘The Intersection between Spirituality and Medicine’, what is the book all about?
Thank you, the practice of medicine predates the arrival of earthly life of Jesus Christ as we can see in the Greek, Phoenician, Chinese,Arabic and Roman ancient works and manuscripts. From the beginning, healing with herbs hax elements of spirituality, in a simple terms, it’s believed that the herbs have spiritual efficacy to heal patients of their various sicknesses.
This spiritual component is what emboldened ancient healers, a belief the patients shared. From the beginning of medicine, we have had phrase ‘ Doctors will do their best only God heals. If you’re given a herb to use to cure say ulcer, the traditional herbal doctor will tell you to have faith in its efficaciousness. So, I can go on and on, through the writing of Galen, Hippocrates and other leading figures in medicine, so, there is affinity between spirituality and medicine. That’s the claim of my book, and it’s well researched.
How do you combine orthodox and traditional medicine into one fold?
My hospital ‘Living God Hospital has two wings, one strictly for the orthodox and the other is purely for herbal healing. Let me tell you my brother, there are some sicknesses that scan can not detect, that defies Western medicine. There was a case of a woman brought here. She was pregnant, everyone could see that she was pregnant but when we passed her through orthodox medical procedure, scan and others; nothing was found, nothing was detected, and yet , according to her husband, she had been pregnant for 13 months.
I had to move her to herbal wing. We started applying various herbal formulas combined with series of fire prayers, and to the Glory of God she gave birth to a bouncing baby boy that looked older than normal baby. But the baby is okay now. So, there are many cases that can not be handled by Western medicine.
There’s what in local parlance is called arrow. It’s a spiritual arrow sent by enemy to hit a target. It incubates and begins havoc in the body of the victim, and if the victim is taken to hospital, the doctor will not see anything. Such ailment can only be handled by herbal formula. So, cultural practices have a role to play in medicine.
It’s easier to treat a stroke case herballly than using orthodox medicine. Orthodox medicine will take time and it will also gulp money but in two months of herbal application, a man stricken by stroke can get better.
How will you describe the quality of medicare in the country today?
Deplorable! It’s an eyesore. The system has driven away the best hands , many of them have relocated abroad in search of greener pastures. If you go to some of my teaching hospitals today, you will see that virtually all the departments have lost more than 50 percent of personnel. Nigerians should pray against falling sick, the cost of drugs is beyond what ordinary Nigerians can cope with. There’s no government health facility that is not affected by brain drain. It’s so alarming.
The best consultants have left the shores of the country because of the malady in the system, poor governance that has impacted negatively on the quality of healthcare.
You’re a Bishop, how do you juggle the call of God with medical practice?
I received the call to serve God about 15 years ago, but as a medical student in the university I was already a born again Christian. It’s not difficult for me to juggle the two, basically I have two doctors assisting me in the hospital, the two are orthodox medical personnel, but I have a schedule that I follow. On Sundays, I’m always in the church throughout, then on Wednesdays, I do counseling for people, every other day I’m in the hospital. It’s not a big deal, really.
Some who spoke to this medium say you want to use your NGO, Living Word Care to launch into politics, do you have political ambition?
The truth is that I use the meagre resources I have to help the needy, widows and orphans, and this is very clear to people around here. We do what ever is within our capacity to help. The NGO is tied to the church.
As per politics, I have no political ambition. I’m not a card – carrying member of any political party, I only exercise my civic duty to vote during elections. You know some people always ascribe meaning to anything one is doing. Many have even approached me to join politics, but I always make it clear to them that my calling is to win souls for Christ and to use my medical practice to heal people of their ailments.
Could you tell us your assessment of the state of the nation?
Well, we need prayers but beyond prayers, we need to make our leaders accountable to the people. The country is passing through difficult moments, it’s as if we are on a journey of self-destruct, in today’s Nigeria , it’s difficult to survive. The last administration really messed up , especially in the area of security, but the current administration has not fared better. The country is at crossroads. Our leaders have proved insensitive in application of policies, some of these policies have to be domesticated locally, it’s sheer laziness to accept World Bank and IMF prescriptions without looking at social and economic contexts. It’s unfortunate.
