Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah says the Ghana Health Service has initiated steps to receive samples of the herbal concoction from Madagascar believed to cure the novel coronavirus.
He said the samples will be tested to ascertain its efficacy before the next step is taken.
“The Ghana Health Service has been notified of this drug. They are looking forward to receive samples for testing. Currently we cannot conclude on its efficacy especially when do not know so much on the drug components”, he noted.
In a previous Press Briefing, Director of the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Ebenezer Badu Sarkodie indicated that the drug consignment will be referred to the Food and Drugs Authority, FDA, for scientific analysis.
Since the announcement by Madagascar’s President Andry Rajoelina that the country had found a possible cure for Covid 19, many African leaders have welcomed the news with high hopes. Some countries on the continent have already started importing the drugs into their countries for use.
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Chad is the latest country to receive the drug as a donation from Madagascar after Tanzania and Congo. Samples of the drugs have also been sent to the West African Countries of Senegal, Equatorial Guinea and Guinea Bissau.
Despite the massive endorsement the drug has received on the continent, the World Health Oraginsation is warning countries to desist from “adopting a product that has not been taken through tests to see its efficacy”. The Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention also said the drink should be “tested rigorously” before it is prescribed for use.
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The Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, has also dissociated itself from reports of a donation from Madagascar regarding a coronavirus herbal cure, COVID-Organics.
In a May 6 press release, the ECOWAS Commission said it dissociates itself from claims that it had “ordered a package of COVID Organics (CVO) medicine from a third country. It is not known if other African countries will welcome the drug for use after the series of warnings issued by regulatory bodies.
Source: Kojo Dei/ATL FM NEWSROOM
