Guide on herbs use to fight Covid-19 set

Dar es Salaam. National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) has partnered with the ministry of health to develop guidelines on how and what type of traditional medicines should be used for the treatment of Covid-19.

The move come few days after lawmakers argued in parliament that it was high time the country incorporates traditional remedies in fighting coronavirus when debating the Prime Minister’s Office budget estimation for the financial year 2020/21 in April this year.

Parliamentarians cautioned, however, that the use of traditional medicines should be regulated and supervised to avoid possible health effects.

NIMR director-general Yunus Mgaya said the institution was aware of the ongoing confusion about the use of traditional medicines and were developing guidelines that will be unveiled to the public soon.

“We are setting up guidelines about the best practices on the traditional medicine and the kind of organic products/trees to be used…we’ll let the public know soon as we complete the work,” Prof Mgaya said.

Muleba South MP (CCM), Anna Tibaijuka was the first to call on the government last week to consider the use of alternative medicine for the treatment of Covid-19.

“We have seen how the use of traditional medicine in countries like China is helping in the treatment of Covid-19…it’s important if we considered the strategy as well,” she specified.

Her appeal was echoed by Chadema MP (Special Seats) Hawa Mwaifunga who asked the government to help people go for proper administration of traditional medicines.

“We should take extra care when using these alternative remedies in the fight against Covid-19… There is a lot of information in social media about different mixtures of organic products to treat the disease...if not handled properly, some of them may have negative impact on our health,” said Ms Mwaifunga.

Many Tanzania have currently embraced the use of herbal medicine as remedy for Covid-19.