Herbal medicine can be disputed issuebut the high cost of medications and their unavailability in public hospitals have forced people turn to alternative solutions in the east african nation of Uganda, whose experts fear lead people fall prey to fake so-called remedies.
Addressing Anadolu Agency (AA) on The day before of World Medicine Day, celebrated on Monday, Damali Nanfuka, a resident of the capital Kampala, said doctors were charging him 100,000 shillings ($29) for treat son diabetes. She let it go plans consult the doctor further and turned to a herbal medicine clinic.
“I went to a herbal medicine clinic where on gave me medicine for only 40,000 shillings ($11),” she said.
Patrick Kasadha, pharmacist in a government hospital in the Eastern District of Uganda of Iganga, said there were not enough medicines in stock in government hospitals due to a shortage of funds. But Health Minister Ruth Jane Aceng recently told the media that some medical workers were stealing drugs and selling them to private clinics.
the problem took such sharp turns that two weeks ago Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni closed all pharmacies operating in government hospital pregnant, following reports that hospital authorities were stealing medicines and giving them to private pharmacies.
Abiaz Rwamwiri, a government official to drugs regulatory authority, said there were reports of people manufacture of fake herbal medicines.
“As the national pharmaceutical authority, we are mandated to regulate medicines made here or imported. In our country, some people manufacture fake herbal medicines,” he said.
Isac Kiburaba, pharmacist in Kampala, some said people simply mix conventional medicine with some concoctions of tree leaves to trick people. He said that in some places, on saw that these people mix medicine meant for malaria with water and mango leaves.
Rwamwiri noted that son authority has hitherto certified 194 medicinal plants for medical use after testing them in laboratories.
Concoctions, calming cure
“There was a fall back to herbal medicine. Due to many people turning to herbal medicine, many unscrupulous people profit and sell fake herbal medicines to unsuspecting people people,” he said.
Fair on The suburbs of the capital Kampala, herbal medicine shops sell different concoctions, claiming that they cure cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes, malaria and all sexually transmitted diseases.
“We have drugs that relieve HIV, AIDS. We also treat toothache without removing rotten teeth. We have drugs that make you sterile women give birth and for weak men, we have medicine that makes them strong,” says Nakakawa, who manages the shop.
She said that son boss Andrew Luwanga, who calls himself a doctor, inherited medicine practice of its end father.
She said they get a lot people who forthcoming buy their phytotherapy for the treatment of various diseases because conventional medicine is very expensive.
She said that government hospitals are short of medicines or the little they have is stolen by military doctors and sold to private pharmacies.
