Pharmacists urged to assist herbalists

Nkawkaw, July 10, GNA - The Kwahu South District Chief Executive, Mr Raymond Osafo Djan, has called on pharmacists to assist herbalists to improve upon the preparation and preservation of herbal drugs to support the health delivery system.

According to him, there were a number of experienced herbalists who knew different kinds of herbal preparations that could cure various kinds of diseases but the knowledge in scientific preparation and preservation was affecting their capability to effectively put them to use.

Mr Osafo Djan was speaking at the launch of five herbal drugs produced by the Smart Herbal Centre, a private pharmaceutical company in Accra, at Nkawkaw on Friday.

The drugs included Smart bitters, cuff mixture, Smart malacure, Smart laxative and Smart tonic for the cure of malaria, cough, anaemia and constipation.

The District Chief Executive noted that huge sums of the nation's foreign exchange could be saved if the country's herbal drugs could be put into effective use since some of them have been tested by medical expects and have proved their potential of curing most of the tropical diseases which orthodox drugs could not cure.

He advised herbalists to send their drugs to the Centre for Scientific Research into Plant Medicine at Mampong-Akuapem for examination and also register with the Food and Drug's Boards. Mr Robert Kojo Puni, a pharmacist of the Smart Herbal Centre, said traditional medicine programme was being undertaken at the Faculty of Pharmacy at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, for scientific research into herbal medicine.

He therefore, called on herbalists to co-operate with pharmacists for the necessary research into the potential of herbal drugs for mass production.

The Director of the Centre, Mr Odei Bediako, urged the public to patronise the drugs to improve their health.