By Chioma Obinna

With the unveiling of four locally-formulated drugs for major diseases by Nigeria Natural Medicine Development Agency, the Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, Cardinal John Onaiyekan has lauded the efforts of the agency towards restoring the nation’s natural medicine, and remedies, as well as showcasing them on the global space.

Onaiyekan who delivered the keynote address at the Natural Medicine Day in Abuja, stressed the need for Nigeria to learn from what the Indians and Chinese have been doing, to the admiration and amazement of the global medical community.

According to him, all along, natural medicine remained a better alternative for some medical conditions which seem to defy modern medical remedies.

He said: “We need to remind ourselves that our people relied on our traditional natural medicine to sustain themselves in good health before our relatively recent contact with European medicine.

“However, when modern medicine came onto our scene, and our people embraced much of it enthusiastically, because, compared with our traditional remedies, it had clearly superior effectiveness and advantages. Thus, we accepted modern medications and other therapeutic practices. Today, we have embraced what has become “international best practices” in these matters. This is what guides the training of our various cadres of health personnel: from nurses, lab scientists, doctors, and pharmacists.”

He lamented that in the process of adopting modern medicine, some important factors about the country’s traditional natural medicine was overlooked.

“First, there was no adequate recognition of the fact that much of modern medicine is based on on knowledge gleaned, without due credit, from our various natural medical products and practices.

“A case can be made about violation of Intellectual Property Rights, as our natural herbs, roots and animal parts were taken away and repackaged in big pharmaceutical industries into bottled drinks and pills.

Speaking on the religious dimension, he condemned the notion that Nigerian traditional healers are fetish practitioners.

He said natural medicine is often seen as combining medical science with religious rituals, adding that it has been the common image of the “native doctor” — leading to a tragic misunderstanding of the native healer.

“Now, the situation is much clearer, as we can now appreciate better the positive dimension of the spiritual element in traditional medicine. It is basically recognition of the fact that healing entails collaboration between human ingenuity and divine intervention. The healing properties of herbs and roots come from the Creator of plants, God himself. It is well that this be acknowledged as we apply healing remedies.

“This was why healing was an essential part of Christian missionary activities —and still is a major concern of the Church even today. We build and run hospitals to create an environment for the sick to access the healing grace of God, with the devoted care of the health personnel, who carry out their tasks primarily as service of God. We care but only God heals. This is a modern slogan that even many of the best modern medical practitioners have started to recognise as true.”

He said the state of health services in Nigeria is a cause of great concern, hence, the need for a serious effort to improve the status quo.

While working on updating our dilapidated health institutions, he said there was need for stakeholders to think outside the box and take a second look at the values of nation’s traditional natural medicine, “God’s gift to our people since past generations.”

Speaking, the Director-General of the Agency, Prof Martins Emeje said the agency is dedicated to festering collaboration , innovation and excellence in the pursuit of advancing natural medicine and committed to harnessing the vast potential of natural medicine in Nigeria.

He said natural medicine remain a viable alternative for many Nigerians who are unable to access expensive modern medicine and for some medical conditions which seem to defy modern medical remedies.

Emeje said there was need for a serious effort to improve the status quo while working on updating the dilapidated health institutions; we do well to think a bit outside the box – and take a second look at the values of our traditional natural medicine, God’s gift to our people since past generations.