By Raymond Ozoji, Awka
Anambra is currently on a mission to end kidney, heart, liver and other organ failures with a bill to regulate herbal medicine practice in the state.
Although countries like India, China and some others have exploited and explored herbal remedy as a very potent alternative to orthodox medicine but regulation of such practice in countries like Nigeria have become issues of urgent public concern due to dire consequences of quackery and poor regulations.
Hence, Honourable Tony Muobike who is the House of Assembly Committee Chairman on Health has proposed and sponsored a bill to sanitize herbal medicine manufacturing and packaging industry in Anambra state.
Muobike said the import of the Anambra State Herbal Practice Law 2024 is to regulate the sector as it is a very critical aspect of healthcare delivery.
He said health was not about conventional drugs alone but also about local medicine made from roots and herbs even as he pointed out that the only difference is that the compositions, chemical contents and dosages are known in conventional drugs but in the case of herbal drugs the aforesaid characteristics are not known.
Muobike who currently represents Aguata 2 state constituency in the 8th legislature noted that the need to identify qualified herbal medicine practitioners becomes absolutely necessary to guard against quackery and malpractices in the industry.
He said the bill also seeks to find out what qualifies people as herbal medicine practitioners as any person can not just jump out and parade himself or herself as a practitioner.
That the bill equally made case for a government certified umbrella association of herbal medicine practitioners to avoid impersonations and malpractices just as he recommended prosecutions for malpractices to serve as deterrents in the sector.
He said he believes that when the bill is passed into law and eventually assented to by the governor, it will give Ndi-Anambra the needed regulations to deliver herbal medicine practice in the state.
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