The Ogun State Government has begun the training of herbalists across the state as part of its intention to compete in the world traditional medicine market, an official has said.
The Executive Secretary of Ogun Alternate Medicine Board, Dr. Kafayat Lawal, disclosed this on Friday in Abeokuta.
She disclosed this while declaring open a one-day workshop, tagged: “Intensive Training for Herbal Medicine Manufacturers on Safety and Efficacy of Herbal Products.”
Lawal said OGAMB was established to standardise and regularise the practice of alternative medicine.
She said: “One of the major challenges in the practice is standardisation.
“The Board will partner with the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control to design a strategy for promoting indigenous medicine, thereby generating revenue for the state.”
In his lecture, the Head of Department of Pharmacy, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Prof. Alfred Jaiyesinmi, listed hygiene, dosage, referral and registration with the government being germane to herbal practice.
“This will help to prove that the sub-sector is fully professional,” he said.
Jaiyesinmi urged the government to invest in herbal plantations, as medicinal plants were going into extinction.
In his remarks, a representative from the Commonwealth Traditional Healers Association, Dr. Olu Adeola, commended the present administration for its efforts to develop alternate medicine.
Adeola requested the government’s intervention in NAFDAC’s conditions for herbal production.
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Some participants at the workshop, including the Oba Isegun Obada-Oko, Chief Sunday Ololade, and National President, Ewedayepo Traditional Healers Association, Dr. Adesina Odugbemi, appreciated government and OGAMB for organising the programme.
They said it has improved their knowledge and level of orientation in line with international practices, using the opportunity to call for the sustenance of such training.
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