The Director of Pax Herbals, a Catholic center for the Development and Promotion of African Medicine, Rev. Father Anselm Adodo has charged the Federal Government of Nigeria, through the Ministry of Health to get the right advice concerning healthcare and how to improve it. Noticing that the current healthcare system in operation in Nigeria has not fully met the health needs of the people, he hoped that government will be ready and willing to explore and embrace the alternative.

According to him, the healthcare model of the developed and industrialised countries of Europe and America is not suitable or practicable in Africa. “Has importation of sophisticated machines into our hospitals translated into more efficient healthcare and treatment? Does bigger spending really translate into better health services? In villages where there are no roads, no electricity, no hospital, what forms of healthcare should government put in place?”, he queried.

While speaking at the 6th PAX Herbal National Congress which took place in Benin, Edo State recently, with the theme “African Herbal Medicine: Bringing Health Closer To The People”, Adodo observed that medicine, whether western or traditional, has the same goal of providing quality healthcare to the people. “Traditional medicine in some countries; including Nigeria has tended to stagnate because we are not exploiting the rapid discoveries of science and technology for its own development. It has kept slow pace of change in comparison with medicine as practiced in the industrialised countries, which keep abreast of scientific and technological innovations to the extent that it is often referred to as modern medicine”, he opined.

The guest speaker at the occasion, an Associate Professor of Oncology at the Howard University, Washington D.C. Gladys Onojobi wondered why the orthodox medical practitioners look forward to only between 30 per cent to 35 per cent success rate for the efficacy of drugs and they celebrate it, yet, they expect a 100 per cent efficacy success rate for traditional medicine.

She revealed that 40 per cent of patients who take ginger while undergoing chemotherapy in a recent study in the US have less side effects of symptoms associated with taking chemotherapy. She also disclosed that taking lime in water, or licking it after meals is good for flatulence and constipation. She advised the management of PAX to keep records of all the data of treatment so that outsiders can learn from it.

Earlier, the Chairman of the occasion, Prof. Aaron Ojule, the Chief Medical Director, University of Port-Harcourt Teaching Hospital, expressed his pleasant surprise when he visited the Pax Herbalist in Ewu, where the PAX products are manufactured. He commended PAX for her pioneering effort in making way for a modern and scientific manufacturing model for herbal medicines in Nigeria and emphasised the need for collaboration. ‘Orthodox medicine has to learn from herbal medicine and vice versa”, he said. He urged government to develop African traditional medicine, so that ethics will be observed, thereby ensuring that the society is not endangered. He lauded PAX’s effort at ensuring that its product line adheres to good manufacturing practice, and also praised the organisation for ongoing research to determine the efficacy of its products.

Present at the event were, the Lagos State Traditional Medicine Board Chairman, Dr Bunmi Omoseyindemi, who represented the executive council of Lagos State, the Lagos State commissioner for Rural Development sent representatives. Traditional Chiefs represented the Oba of Benin, while the Catholic Archbishop of Benin, Most Rev. Dr Augustine Akubeze also sent representatives.

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