The Chief Executive Officer of Quincy Herbals Naturopathic and Wellness Centre, Mrs Olasumbo Ayodele, has said herbal medicine could be used to prevent and manage COVID-19 symptoms. Ayodele, in an interview with our correspondent, praised health workers in the frontline of fighting COVID-19, urging the Federal Government to carry herbal medicine practitioners in the management of COVID-19 patients in the country.
She said, “Globally, orthodox medicine has not been so effective for now in the treatment of this virus and that is why the WHO has said that there is no cure for it for now. “Even though we are not allowed in our practice to use the word ‘Cure’, I know that herbal medicine can be used for prevention, to remedy the symptoms and to manage the attack of the virus in emergency cases.”
The naturopath, who is a committee member on the Development of African Traditional Medicine of the World Health Organisation, said some African countries were already coming out with herbal formulations to manage their infected citizens. “I believe the Federal Government should collaborate with herbal medicine practitioners to fight this pandemic. Even if it is to manage symptoms at the onset or preventative level that herbal medicines are administered, this will help to reduce mortality rates in Nigeria,” Ayodele said. She also urged the National Assembly to pass the Traditional Medicine Bill in line with the recommendation of the World Health Organisation.
Ayodele said the bill, when passed and signed into law, would help herbal medicine producers to go into full commercialisation, which would, in turn, help the country bounce back economically. She said, “The National Assembly should pass Traditional Medicine Bill in accordance with the recommendations of the WHO. Other African nations like Ghana, Senegal, and others have passed the bill for the development of the practice, practitioners and products, and have moved on to commercialisation.
“The only thing hampering the full take-off of commercialisation, collaboration and integration of herbal medicine in Nigeria is the passing of Traditional Medicine Bill, which remains pending in the National Assembly.
“While I do think the government has given some recognition to herbal medicine now, it can surely be better. Before I began raising public awareness about the medicinal properties, benefits and the scientific potency of herbal medicine, people were negatively stigmatising herbal medicine mainly because of religious beliefs.”
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