Herbal medicine producers must build capacity

 Dear Editor,

IN recent times, herbal medi­cines, which used to be what most of our older folks relied on to cure their diseases seems to be losing their relevance.

This has been due to the emergence of orthodox medi­cines.

Although some are of the view that orthodox medicines are more effective than herb­al medicines, I believe herbal medicines could still be relied upon.

What has also contributed to the dwindling fortunes of herbal medicines is the poor standards.

The Food and Drugs Authori­ty (FDA) has been doing its best to ensure that herbal medicines produced locally met the stan­dards required as well as their approval by the Authority.

Furthermore, traditional and herbal medicine produc­ers in the country have also complained about the lack of support from the government in promoting their products.

In my opinion, I think it is about time traditional and herbal medicine producers produce on a large scale to meet the growing demands of their markets, especially those that have been approved by the FDA.

What I have realised is that they don’t produce enough be­cause they lack the resources.

Also, I think those that produce similar products can collaborate and produce on a large scale to meet the growing demand.

With that, health facili­ties can have access to these medicines in large quantities to complement the orthodox medicines that are available.

Once they are able to do this, the government will also take them more seriously and provide them with the needed support to produce on a large scale to boost the sector.

Cletus Amedeka,

Volta region