Tina Amanda
Rivers State Ministry of Health has sealed off an illegal Traditional Herbal medicine Trade Fair going on at Ogale, in Eleme local government area of the state.
The Director of Medical Service of the Ministry, Dr Chijioke Mandah, who took his medical team and security personnel to the area, clamped down on the illegal herbal trade Fair for not getting approval from the state government before rendering health services to people in the state.
According to him, it is a criminal offence to operate against the Rivers State Private Health Registration Law 2019, under section 2, sub-section 1, which subjects persons or groups through a rigorous process of getting approval, in order to ensure what their offering to the public is certified and safe for consumption.
“It is getting worrisome that more people are dying out of ignorance, especially these traditional medicine practitioners claim all kinds of things; the state has the power to stop all these. We are going a step forward, to make sure that any health care delivery in the state must fulfil the minimum standard.
“The era where any person can go anywhere, any corner to sell or administer medication is gone, we are going to the nook and cranny of the state to fish out those people killing our people with wrong prescriptions.”
He stressed further that despite traditional medicine being recognized, there is still a need for a level of certification and standardization.
“We are not against traditional medicine because the drugs we take all come from roots, but we need to know that the quality, quantity and the dose of whatever is being given to people is the right information at all times so that they don’t endanger their lives. This is what the government is poised to achieve, and we are going to achieve it definitely.”
Our reporter Tina Amanda reports that some of the traditional medicine practitioners were arrested at the trade fair venue.
