Lagos govt bans sale of paraga

Muda Oyeniran,Lagos - 13.03.2008

The selling of herbal mixture, popularly called paraga, has been declared illegal in Lagos State.

This is even as the state government said it would soon begin to clamp down on the sellers of the commodity.

The Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris, who disclosed this in Lagos on Wednesday during a press briefing to mark the World Kidney Day which holds today across the world, said the herbal mixture could damage the kidney and lead to many other health problems.

According to him, kidney diseases constituted between six and eight per cent of all medical cases reported in the state, adding that 90 per cent of such cases often led to death.

He also called for the closure of all tobacco companies in the country, saying that they did a lot of harm to the health of the people.

Dr. Idris attributed the rising cases of kidney diseases in the state to ignorance.

According to him, 90 per cent of people sampled did not know where their kidneys were located not to talk of their function.

He also listed heredity, hypertension, diabetes and infection of the kidneys during childhood as important risk factors for kidney disease.