FG to Introduces Herbal Medicine inVarsities

The Federal Government has
concluded plans to introduce Herbal
Medicine studies in Nigerian
universities as from next year.
Already, the Joint Admission
Matriculation Examinations has been
placed on notice to provide a space for
candidates interested in the studying
Herbal Medicine in the UTME on their
forms.
The Minister of Health, Prof.
Onyebuchi Chukwu, who disclosed
this on Friday evening in Abuja during
the 3rd Annual Guest Lecture
organized by Medical and Health
Workers Union of Nigeria (MHWUN)
with the theme: ‘Developing Human
Resources for Health for the
attainment of Universal Health
Coverage: Issues and Perspectives’ said
it was a deliberate effort to hasten the
attainment of Universal Health
Coverage in the country.
The Guest lecturer was Dr. Abubakar
Sokoto Mohammed of the Department
of Sociology, Usman Danfodio
University, Sokoto.
The Minister, however, advised the
MHWUN to buy into the MH and pay
their contribution in the National
Health Insurance Scheme to enable
them access quality health care
services even after their retirement
from service.
He said, “They say we cannot achieve
Universal Health Coverage unless
herbal medicine practitioners are
involved. But I say they must be
trained. Finally, a committee has
submitted a curriculum which we are
going to take to the National Council
on Health. It is a very beautiful
curriculum.
“We are taking Herbal Medicine to the
Universities. Without it, there is no
integration. This is because, if you are
a herbal practitioner, you are a
Doctor. A herbalist is a doctor. But the
first function of a doctor is to take a
diagnosis. It it Lasser Fever or Ebola
or is it dengue or is it malaria or
typhoid?
“You have to get the answer before
you begin to give that herb. You
cannot do that unless you learn those
sciences that will enable you get the
results-physiology, pharmacology,
pathology, anatomy, biochemistry and
all others. If you don’t learn them you
will not know anything about the
human body.
“The herbal practitioners are working
with me because they saw what we
are doing. Hopefully, once the NCH
approved it, it is possible that by next
year, in Joint Admission Matriculation
Examinations, some people may be
filling to read Herbal Medicine.”
Chukwu further argued that for the
health sector to attain the desired
progress, there was the need for
dominance and high participation of
non government practitioners in the
sector.
“For the country to attain its desired
UHC, the health sector must be
dominated and handled by the non-
government actors. It does not matter
whether it is for profit or non profit .
More of health must be handled by
non-government involvement. If we
don’t reach that place, believe you me,
there will be no universal health
coverage.
“This is because we are not running a
socialist government in Nigeria, we
are running a capitalist government
and under a capital regime, if you
don’t put things under the non-
government sector, it will never work.
“Today, government is controlling
most of the health sectors, that is why
it is not working the way we wanted it
is work. We are also looking into our
curriculum so that we will include
entrepreneurial scheme so that when
medical students come out from
school, they will know how to access
loan and how to run a business.”
In his lecture, Sokoto, warned the
medical and health workers against
intense rivalry in the sector, stressing,
“It does not help the sector. There is
the need for us to work together.”
He advised the three tiers of
governments to finance the NIHS,
which according to him will provide
quality health services to the poor and
will also fastrack the attainment of
universal health in the country.
Sokoto said, “This is because, the
government said all people will have
to contribute, but there are people
that are living below one dollar per
day, how can they contribute? And
they are the majority. So the only way
everybody can be covered is for the
federal, state and the local
governments to pay for the scheme.
Because if the scheme must succeed,
there must be a financing system in
addition to a very good and well run
health care system.
“The medical and other health
workers union and other associations
in the sector to map out a campaign to
ensure professionalism and good
ethical conduct among the workforce.
“Industrial democracy should be given
an important role in all important
policies in the health sector because a
lot of decision are taken and the
workers are not being carried along
which normally bring problem. But if
at the beginning they are carried
along, the tendency of having any
friction or conflict will be reduced.”
Earlier, the President of the MHWUN,
Ayuba Waba, stressed that the need to
make robust contribution for the
success of outcomes of the recently
concluded Presidential Summit on
Universal Health Coverage
necessitated the putting together of
the lecture.
He said, “We are trying to look into
the recently concluded presidential
summit where the issue of universal
health coverage has been canvassed.
We realized that the fact universal
health coverage is at the heart of
health coverage and there is the need
to ensure that health workers are
distributed evenly across all parts of
the country.”