Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 1 (IANS): A piquant situation has arisen with there being speculation whether in this age of modern medical science, two-time Kerala Congress Chief Minister Oommen Chandy is now waiting for faith healing to take place for his throat cancer which is in an advanced stage.
In Christian theology, the gift of healing is among the spiritual gifts listed in 1 Corinthians 12 of the Holy Bible which says, "As an extraordinary charisma, gifts of healing are supernatural enablements given to a believer to minister various kinds of healing and restoration to individuals through the power of the Holy Spirit."
And to those not familiar with the Bible and faith healing, in simple terms it means that those under faith healing will not take medicines, instead they will wait for God to act.
Chandy while in the last leg of his second term as Chief Minister in 2015 found a drop in his voice level and things went from bad to worse with his closest aides anxiously watching the progress in his treatment.
Incidentally it was after the intervention of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi that Chandy was taken to Germany late last year for a detailed medical check up. The advice was to go for further treatment.
It was then that he went for further treatment to a Bengaluru hospital and after several weeks he was able to regain his voice. He was sent home on the condition that he should return, but he has not yet gone back. According to sources his family is not keen on it as they believe that 'faith healing' will work.
This has caused anxiety among his close aides and political leaders, that if further proper medical treatment is not undertaken, things could worsen.
The soft spoken and affable 78-year-old Chandy became the longest serving legislator in the history of the Kerala Legislative Assembly in October last year after he beat K. M. Mani's record of 52 years.
Chandy has never lost an election since his first election in 1970 when he started to represent Puthupally constituency in Kottayam district and continues to be a legislator.