A traditional medicine practitioner, Dr Adedamola Bank-Kadejo, on Wednesday urged the Federal Government to provide an enabling environment to enhance the use of herbal medicine in Nigeria.
Bank-Kadejo, also the Registrar, Nigerian Council of Physicians of Natural Medicine (NCPNM), spoke with Daybreak in Lagos, against the backdrop of the Madagascar’s COVID-19 remedy.
Mr Boss Mustapha, Chairman, Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, said on Monday at the daily press briefing that President Muhammadu Buhari had directed PTF to procure the Madagascar’s herbal mixture for clinical analysis.
Madagascar President, Andry Rajoelina, had in April officially launched the COVID Organics, an organic herbal concoction, claiming that it could prevent and cure patients suffering from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) had also warned against the use of the Madagascar’s organic herbal concoction and cautioned against self-medication.
WHO said that they have not approved the concoction for patients suffering from COVID-19, but called for clinical trials of the herbal remedy.
Bank-Kadejo said: “Over the years, our government has been paying lip service to herbal medicine by questioning the potency and efficacy of our products.
“Coronavirus has brought the practice to limelight, while other countries are already exploring herbal medicines, because they have no alternative.
“We must give kudos to Madagascar, as a country, for taking the bold step.
“If Nigeria had taken that step, we would have been making a very big lead in the fight against this pandemic by now.
“Most times in Nigeria, before we do anything, we always want to see it happen somewhere else, we can also be a pacesetter.
“We should start believing in ourselves as a nation; some of our members have sent remedies to the government, but it was not announced until Madagascar came up with its own remedy.”
He said that the body had directed its state associations to liaise with the various state governments to develop medicines for clinical trials at the state level.
“We expect government to call traditional practitioners together, but since government has not done that, we have directed our state associations to take their remedies to the government.
“Our members took their herbal products to the Centre for Research in Traditional and Alternative Medicine at the Nigeria Institute of Medical Research (NIMR), Yaba, but there is no fund for clinical trials,” Bank-Kadejo said.
Also, Dr Oluwagbemiga Aina, the Coordinator, Centre for Research in Traditional and Alternative Medicine at NIMR, told NAN that clinical trials would reveal more about the Madagascar’s remedy.
“There is nothing we can say about the COVID-19 remedy yet, we can only say something when we have carried out a test on it.
“If they bring it to us in NIMR, we will be willing to work with the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) on the clinical trials,” he said.
Aina said that five herbal practitioners had brought samples of their herbal medicines to the centres for COVID-19, which we have yet to test.
