Dr. Florence Dedey, a senior lecturer with the Department of Surgery at the University of Ghana Medical School and a surgeon at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, has advised breast cancer victims to stop looking for healing at prayer camps.
Speaking at the Breast Cancer Awareness Symposium organized by the Danquah Institute Advocacy Chatroom as part of observing the month of October as the breast cancer awareness month, she noted that “People tend to spiritualize breast cancer because they don’t read about the causes”.
The surgeon expunged that the problem in this case, is that, “When people spiritualize things, they think they don’t need medical attention so they’d rather go to a prayer camp for healing but when they realize it’s not working, they get to the hospitals but then it may be too late”.
Dr. Dedey observed that the reason why there is a lot of fear about breast cancer is the fact that most survivors do not talk about their story. She explained that since most survivors do not tell their story, a lot of people see breast cancer as a death sentence and a result of this, they are scared to get checked at the hospital for a confirmation even when they start to feel abnormalities in their breasts.
Although she mentioned that things are gradually changing and survivors are now more open to sharing their stories with the world, Dr. Florence urged that more survivors come out to help motivate people who may themselves battling what they have already overcome.
She shared a study which shows that most people report to the hospital after 8months of detection and that, she advised, is not the best thing to do because as they do not know how long it has existed in their breasts before they detected it, keeping it as long as eight months could only worsen the situation.
Dr. Dedey in conclusion, advised that breast cancer is easily treated when detected early and the chance of survival is low when detected late, therefore it is important to get checked regularly and report to the hospital for treatment as soon as an abnormality is detected in the breasts.
Dr. Florence Dedey is a senior lecturer and a professional surgeon who hold a BSC in Medical Sciences and a Bachelors Degree in Medicine and Surgery, as well as an MbChB from the University of Ghana Medical School where she lectures now. She also happens to be a researcher with focus of breast diseases, specifically cancer and how to improve outcomes.
By: Maureen Dedei Quaye
