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On Monday, the FDA and National Medicine Regulatory Agency (NMRA) announced its approval of the medicine, which was submitted by the School of Public Health at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).
Known as Cryptolepis Sanguinolenta, the approved herbal medicine is locally referred to as Nibima.
Reacting to this, the General of the Secretary of the Ghana Federation for Traditional Medicine Practitioners, Nana Kwadwo Obiri, said they are unaware of the development.
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He noted that members of the Federation have also sent several herbal medicines to the Ministry of Health and the FDA for assessment and further approval for covid-19 treatment, but are yet to receive any feedback.
“I am a board member and represent traditional medicine practitioners on the FDA Governing Board and am also a member of the Drugs Committee of the Food and Drugs Authority and I’m saying that these things I don’t know anything about it,” he told Accra-based 3FM.
“That is why am saying that the Research Committee is meeting and we will talk to the certification, we will talk to the ministry and then we will come out.”
He added: “When you come to herbal industry a lot of things happen and the authority know that, that is why they put us on board and other committees, so when they were reluctant in adding us to the new herbal medicine research board that was constituted by the Minister of health, Minister ordered that they should add the two of us on; myself and the president of the federation are members so if anything we should look at it at one of these committees before so I am at a shock.”
Ghana’s Coronavirus situation seemed to be improving towards the end of 2020 but there’s been a spike in cases in recent weeks.
Currently, the country has recorded 5,358 active cases while 416 persons have died in the process, according to data from the Ghana Health Service.