COVID-19 Cure: We Are Studying Claims From Traditional Medicine Practitioners – FG

The federal government says it is evaluating claims by alternative (traditional) medicine practitionals in the country that they have the cure for Coronavirus (COVID-19).

Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire disclosed this on Friday during the presidential taskforce briefing on COVID-19 in Abuja.

Ehanire said his ministry has a department for alternative medicine, adding that he has received several letters from these practitioners, who claimed theyhave a cure for the virus.

He said he was not disputing such claims, as he had referred their letters to the department of alternative medicine, and was expecting feedback.

He said “We have a department for alternative medicine in the ministry, traditional and complimentary medicine, and we have had a series of letters from traditional medical practitionals, who have written to me that they have the cure for coronavirus.

“Well, I have not disputed it so I have referred such letters to the department of traditional medicine and am waiting for them to give me a feedback on what they have discovered from the people.”

Responding to a question on accredited private hospitals treating COVID-19, the health minister said “I’m not aware of any private accredited hospitals here in Abuja treating the virus. Lagos is looking at some accredited hospitals and there is one large hospital in Lagos that has called me and said they want to become a coronavirus treatment centre. The structure of the hospital is such that they’re ready to remove all the present patients that are there and do nothing but treating coronavirus. That will be good because they don’t stand the risk of cross infection.”

According to him, a private facility that wants to run a treatment centre must have to “show that first of all you have the staff, a doctor who must be an infectious disease specialist and nurses and even cleaners who are trained, because the handling of such a hospital is different from ordinary hospitals.

“You must be trained in infection prevention and control protocols and the hospital must be properly delineated. Then you’ll have an inspection by a team of accreditors who will give you the go-ahead to do it. While it is not prohibited, there is no hospital that I know at the moment that meets that criteria.”

Responding, Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Chikwe Ihekweazu, said it was not the priority of the centre at the moment to accredit private laboratories.

“It is not our priority at the moment to accredit private laboratories, but we have started because we need to scale capacity.”

Ihekweazu however, said “Our plan is to decentralise testing completely and improve turnaround time for results.”