Covid-19: We have a better herbs than Madagascar's, give us separate Isolation Centre to treat patients - OAU Prof tells FG

By Dansu Peter 

Prof. Anthony Elujobi 

An Obafemi Awolowo University professor of Pharmacognosis,  Prof. Anthony Elujobi has said Nigeria do not need to import a herbal vaccine discovered in Madagascar in treatment of coronavirus as widely suggested by many. 

The Professor who was also a former acting Vice Chancellor of the University made the disclosure in an interview with Punch Newspapers published on Sunday. 

When asked on possible collaboration with the Madagascar on the herbal vaccine developed in the country, he simply objected and claimed there are existing herbal medicine developed in Nigeria which are more potent in treatment of symptoms of Covid-19. 

His words;

"We do not have to collaborate with any country in Africa on anti-malaria plants, every country has its own. The inducement for people looking for anti-malarial plant stems from the fact that chloroquine has been mentioned even by the United States President, Donald Trump. What we, herbal scientists, thought immediately was using medicinal plants with anti-malarial properties because of various advantages of herbal medicine. It is available with us, we don’t need to import it. It is affordable and readily acceptable by our people. We are thinking that if chloroquine does it because chloroquine is being considered to do it, then we will use our medicinal plants to do it. We are sure that our people will accept it than chloroquine. The first symptom of COVID-19 is fever and I guess that is why Madagascar went straightaway to investigate their medicinal plants with anti-malarial properties and they got it. If Nigeria had allowed us to do it at the time we were agitating for it, we would have been the first."

On how he could best be fit in the treatment of coronavirus patients, Prof. Elujoba said;

" I will suggest that there should be parallel treatment centres across the country where herbal preparations will be used. Only COVID-19 patients that opt for herbal management should be admitted there. There should be informed consent and the patients would be told in the form what the management is all about, the medicinal plants that are inside and they should be told it may work and it may not work. So, the patient will think about it and decide whether they want it or they don’t want it. Those that want it will take responsibility for whatever happens, then experts will be stationed at such centres because they have to supervise it if they prepared the products.  But nobody can say they have herbal medicine that cures COVID-19 now because it is a new disease."