Accra, Ghana, April 28, 2020//-Ghana is racing up to test herbal medicines as likely cure for the deadly coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) which is causing human and economic catastrophic across the world.
Indeed, it has been reported widely in the Ghanaian media that the country’s Ministry of Health had submitted 32 herbal medicines for testing to find likely medicines or medicine for the COVID-19 at the Centre for Plant Medicine Research (CPMR).
The Centre, formerly called the Centre for Scientific Research into Plant Medicine (CSRPM) located at Mampong-Akwapim in the Eastern Region of Ghana.
It was established by the Government of Ghana in 1975 as a result of the dream and vision of Dr. Oku Ampofo, a renowned allopathic Medical Practitioner, who having had personal experience of the therapeutic values of herbal medicines on himself and his father became an apostle of herbalism at a tender age.
The Centre is an institution for research into herbal medicine. It produces its own herbal medicines and runs an out-patient clinic which treats more than 16,000 patients a month.
The Deputy Director for the Centre, Dr Alfred Amponsah Appiah also told the media that more than 70 individual herbal medicine practitioners in the country had submitted their samples to be tested for their efficacy for treatment of COVID-19.
The Centre according to him was testing the medicine samples to ascertain if they had positive antiviral materials to the novel virus.
“What is being done globally is to test certain medicines that have already been selected to have certain antiviral properties and the prospects of those drugs are being monitored to test its effectiveness to the novel virus”, Dr Appiah said to the media.
Move lauded
The Chief Executive of Amen Scientific Herbal and Alternative Medicine Hospital, Sheikh Dr. Amin Bonsu lauded the move.
According to him, his hospital has drugs that have proven efficacious against symptoms of COVID-19, and there are patients who can testify to that.
The renowned traditional medicine practitioner mentioned the medicines as Amen Wabco for boosting the immune system, and Amen Chestico and Amen Fevermix, which help to manage the other symptoms of COVID-19.
“Microbial, phytochemical, sub-toxicity and chronic toxicity tests have been carried out on all the three drugs by Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Centre for Plant Medicine Research (CPMR) and they have all been approved by the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA),” Dr Bonsu said.
He explained that a suspected COVID-19 patient from London, UK, was recently treated in his facility with some of his drugs and all the symptoms left her, so she has gone for testing to confirm cure.
“We are not claiming cure but at least the drugs are dealing with the symptoms of COVID-19 so we believe it is worth considering for testing at this point,” he said.
Earlier, Dr Bonsu questioned why the government was not focusing on herbal medication, as China and India were currently doing in their own countries.
Indeed, some Chinese companies and individuals came to Ghana to lift some herbal medicines to manage COVID-19, so there is no reason why Ghana government can also not test the herbal medicines here.
It would be recalled the COA FS manufactured by Prof. Samuel Ato Duncan was also submitted long ago for testing as antidote to viral diseases like COVID-19 and others.
Particularly, COA FS is even being used in China and other parts of the world for the management of COVID-19 the symptoms.
Dr Bonsu believes a strong collaboration from herbal medicine practitioners and government could create the needed vaccine to stop COVID-19.
Looking for support
But Centre for Plant Medicine Research (CPMR) is looking for at least $50 million to enable it runs an international standard facility.
According to senior officials of the Center, they are using their small resources to ensure that they meet the World Health Organization’s standard of COVID-19 medicine testing.
About 80% of developing countries including Ghana depend on traditional medicines for their primary health care needs, the World Health Organization (WHO) indicated.
It is important to acknowledge that in Ghana, traditional medicine or herbal medicines is key component of the health care system of the people.
Widespread usage
The use of herbal medicine in the West African country is common but highly diverse due to floristic and cultural diversity. It also has huge impacts on the local economy and biodiversity conservation, according to experts.
The knowledge of herbal medicine is almost universal in most homes with evidence of increasing usage, and herbal medicines are used for the treatment and management of both acute (cuts, foot rots) and chronic ailments including stroke, fevers, malaria, and diabetes, cancer.
In many parts of the country, herbal medicines are used to either treat malaria or compliment allopathic anti-malaria drugs. Cryptolepis sanguinolenta, also known as ‘nibima’, have for instance been popularly mentioned and clinically shown to be efficacious against malaria, with its herbal tea formulations, trademarked as Phyto-Laria, being shown to offer 93.5% cure rate in vivo with no signs of toxicity, according to researchers.
Research on pregnant women visiting health facilities for anti-natal care also reported use of herbal medicines for the treatment of abdominal pains, constipation, to protect their pregnancies and for smooth delivery.
Efforts to integrate
Efforts have been made to amend the National Health Policy to pave way for the integration of herbal medicine into mainstream healthcare, following the establishment of a policy of herbal medicine practice in 2005.
To this end, the Traditional Medicine Practice Council (TMPC) was set up in 2010, following the release of the second edition of the Ghana Herbal Pharmacopoeia (GHP) in 2007.
The herbal medicine practice was formally integrated into the main healthcare delivery system in Ghana in 2012, with a pilot of about 18 government facilities nationwide.
Trained Herbal Medical practitioners from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Centre for Research into Plant Medicine and Tetteh Quarshie Memorial Hospital in Ghana are licensed to consult and prescribe herbal medicine for clients both in the government and private hospitals in the country.
With proper support and political will, the traditional or the herbal medicine sector can contribute to the health needs of the people as well as the socio-economic development of the country.
By Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh, African Eye Report
Email: mk68008@gmail.com
