We are still working on herbal medicine for coronavirus - Herbalists Association assures

The Ghana Association of Medical Herbalists (GAMH) has said that it is still working behind the scenes to produce a herbal medicine that will help in the fight against COVID-19.

General Secretary of the Association, Dr. Prince Osei, explained that since the pandemic broke out, the Association has been carefully monitoring the situation to bring out the best herbal medicine that will manage the disease. However, the support has not been optimal.

Speaking to Samuel Eshun on the Happy Morning Show, he expressed: “Now that we have these vaccines available, we believe clinical trials must continue.

Our initial plan was to partner with the Health Ministry so that we administer approved herbal drugs to those held at the isolation centres if they wish to. Then we can administer and monitor to see how the response of the person is. That is how we can gather data and compare it to the efficacy of Orthodox medicine. That was what we were proposing, unfortunately, we pushed that agenda and yet we didn’t get any favourable response.”

Despite the seeming setback in producing a herbal medicine for COVID-19, Dr. Prince Osei is positive that the Association will come up with herbal medicine as he said: “It is a fact that many have not heard from us but we are still working on the herbal drugs.”

In February 2021, the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) approved the first herbal medicine for clinical trials for the treatment of COVID-19.

According to a press statement issued by the FDA, the authority in collaboration with the National Medicine Regulatory Agency (NMRA) approved a clinical trial of “Cryptolepis Sanguinolenta”, locally known as “Nibima” for its efficacy in treating Covid-19 cases.

Application for a clinical trial of the said herbal medicine was submitted by researchers from the School of Public Health of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, (KNUST).