Archbishop Alfred Adewale Martins of the Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos has appealed to the Federal Government to allow traditional medicine practitioners to use local herbs and roots as a cure for COVID-19.
Martins made the appeal during a news conference held at the Holy Cross Cathedral hall in Lagos on Wednesday ahead of the commemoration of the forthcoming 54th World Communications Day.
He said that traditional herbal medicines had their own healing effects, pleading with the government to give credence to their producers for them to use the products as a cure for the virus.
Martins said, “Herbal medicine has its healing effect and I think it is important that the government gives local practitioners and researchers opportunities to research into the use of our local herbal roots and come up with remedies from them for this Coronavirus pandemic.
“We have heard these local remedies curing different types of diseases before, and it is only appropriate that they are given a chance to prove their efficacy at this point in time.
“We understand that there is a need for test and validation of local herbs. Madagascar has developed its own and was embraced by the Federal Government.
“That has created the urgency for our government to pay attention to the development and promotion of our own indigenous herbal products and remedies offered by others that will lead to an end to COVID-19 pandemic in our country.”
He said that it was a great concern that the numbers of infected people were increasing daily, adding that it was a measure of relief to some extent that people were submitting themselves for the test.
“This is an indication that more people are being tested for coronavirus which means that those who have the virus are being identified and treated.
“This is a sign of hope and by the grace of God, we shall see the end of this pandemic,” he said.
He also appealed to the government to do everything necessary for the people to continue to receive palliatives at this critical period.
He said that people were not earning as much now as they used to earn before the outbreak of the pandemic in the country.
