Mr. Kofi Kankam, an herbalist living at Sefwi-Boako in the Western Region, has come out as the latest herbalist to claim to have the cure for AIDS. In announcing himself, Kofi Kankam has dared any health institution that considers his claim to be a hoax to send him 10 AIDS patients, give him just eight weeks and he would prove to the whole world that he has found the key to healing the dreaded disease.
Speaking at his herbal preparation center at Sefwi-Boako, Kankam said his concoctions has been able to cure all AIDS patients that have been brought to him so far and referred to St. John’s Government Hospital at Asafo, also in the Western region, to verify the truth or otherwise.
He said most of the AIDS patients who came to him for cure were referred from the hospital, and he claimed when later tests were conducted on them by the same hospital the people tested negative to the HIV/AIDS disease. He even showed a report of a test conducted on a lady who he claimed to have cured her of the disease, after the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research had confirmed her to be HIV positive on March 12, this year.
Kankam asserted all appeals he made to the Ministry of Health (MOH) for more AIDS patients to receive free treatment from his herbal base, as well as his appeal for financial help from Care International, an NGO, had all proved futile. He, however, appealed to the government; NGOs, philanthropists and private individuals for financial sponsorship, since fees demanded by Noguchi to conduct a thorough test of his medicines and possibly certify them are quite exorbitant.
Asked to disclose the source of his medicine, Kankam said it was revealed to him in a dream, and since then he had cured many people, especially from Cote d’Ivoire, with it. In an interview with a laboratory technician of the hospital, he confirmed that it was true most HIV/AIDS patients were referred to the herbalist for treatment, but as to whether they were fully cured, he could not say. Asked about how the supposedly cured patients were faring, the technician said they were all feeling much better than when they were first brought to the hospital. He said some were going about their normal lives. This is about the tenth time an herbalist in Ghana has claimed to have a cure for AIDS.
The late Nana Drobo, whose claims, made the most famous claim and confirmations made by his patients drew the attention of the international community and got some Japanese scientists inviting him to their country. The Japanese debunked Nana Drobo’s claim and shortly after his return to Ghana, he died under very mysterious conditions.
Meanwhile, in an attempt to get Dr. Mubarak Osei-Kwasi, head of the virology unit of the Noguchi, as to whether he had had any contact with the said herbalist, proved futile, as he was said to have traveled outside of Ghana.
