FG to consider use of agbo for COVID-19 treatment, says health minister
As the government of Nigeria
battles to contain the spread of the Covid-19 scourge and seeks treatment for the
index cases, the Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, has disclosed that the
federal government was considering the use of traditional medicine for the treatment.
To this end, he added that
stakeholders in traditional medicine who are serious with the use of local
herbs and concoctions would be considered in the treatment of COVID-19.
The minister stated this at
a press briefing conference of the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19 held in
Lagos on Tuesday.
Hear him: “We will look
into every assertion. Some people say they have herbs and some others say they
have concoctions. Only for those that are serious, the department of
traditional, complementary and alternative medicine in the Ministry of Health will
look into their claims and we will not throw away any suggestion,” he said. He further
added that “The efficacy and efficiency of these medicines have to be proven
first before it is recommended for people to take.”
He noted that different
trials are taking place such as “the use of convalescent plasma, which is taken
from people that had coronavirus that have been treated successfully”, and
these trials are being reviewed and a confirmation will be passed as time goes
on.
“The same goes for
hydroxychloroquine,”Ehanire he said, adding, It had been found in some tests to
work outside the body, that is ‘in vitro testing’, but the chloroquine that
people can swallow needs to be tested to see if it works the same way with the
one taken outside the body.”
The federal government, the
minister noted was also depending on the World Health Organisation (WHO) like
other countries for recommendations on the use of proper medicines to treat
coronavirus.
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