President Museveni has called upon Ugandan doctors to work closely with the innovators of herbal medicines to identify the important elements, which cure diseases and obtain intellectual property rights so the medicines can be used globally.
This call is contained in a statement by State House, which was released yesterday following his consultative meeting with a team of scientists from the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, World Health Organisation (WHO) and herbalists at State House, Entebbe.
The President said doctors should collaborate with the innovators of herbal medicine through doing clinical trials in the presence of the formulae founders (herbalists) in order to rule out mistrust and thereafter identify the important elements which cure a given illness.
Doctors and herbalists in the country are always in conflict as the former don’t support the use of herbs, citing lack of proof that the products work but the latter argue that the doctors detest herbs because of lack of knowledge, saying people buy their products because they work.
The team from WHO came to Uganda on February 28th to support the efforts in developing herbal medicines for Covid-19 and guide vaccine development, according to Dr Monica Musenero, the minister for Science, Technology and Innovation.
