The Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire has expressed fears about the potency of herbal medicines being suggested for the treatment of Coronavirus.
The minister, at the daily Presidential briefing, disclosed that some of the traditional medicines being suggested as cures for COVID-19 had not been tested and might be toxic adding that the Federal Government will not take the risk of releasing COVID-19 patients for testing of the efficacies of the herbal drugs.
“On the cure of COVID-19, the traditional medicines that people said they had, we have referred them to Traditional Complementary Medicine Department of the Federal Ministry of Health and to the Nigerian Institute of Pharmaceutical Research and Development to evaluate.
“But some of them, who have written to me that they have medicines, have asked me to give them 10 patients so that they can cure them.
“But we don’t do it like that in medicine. We don’t have human guinea pigs. Anybody who knows that he or she has a cure must prove to me that it was tried and it worked,” he said.
Ehanire insisted that all herbal medicines must go through the research cycle to ensure they are not toxic.
“Of course, I am not giving them anyone to go and carry out their tests. That is why they have to go through the research cycle to make sure that their medicines are not toxic and you can also check the efficacy.
“Any kind of medicine can be toxic. The toxicity can be checked and you can also check the efficacy. And as you know, you have to try it on animals such as rats and mouse, before it is certified,” he said.
Recently, The Madagascan Government launched a herbal remedy for the treatment of COVID-19 and the African Union has already initiated a discussion with the country with a view to obtaining technical data regarding the safety and efficiency of a herbal remedy.
The Madagascan herbal remedy, known as COVID-Organics, was tested on fewer than 20 people over three weeks and the President of the country, Andry Rajoelina claimed that two people got cured of the virus.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has however warned against the use of non-clinically tested herbal drink being touted by Madagascar as a remedy against coronavirus.
Most experts think it could take until mid-2021, about 12-18 months after the new virus first emerged, for a vaccine to become available.
