Saturation of herbal medicinal claims in media: What are we going to do about it?

The inundation of varied advertising in the media on herbal drugs claiming sometimes 100 per cent efficacy and able to cure illnesses from A to Z is mind-boggling.   

If such herbal drugs exist and are doing such wonders in terms of total healing then why would the hospitals not be prescribing them?

And who has sanctioned for these wild claims to populate our public platforms including radio and television where precious lives seeking their healing are being teased indirectly, misled and misinformed?

Competition

It looks like it is becoming fashionable and more or less a competition for these herbal medications, their efficacies and the brains behind them to be advertised at length in some media spaces. In the local language, they come in the form of bold claims pointing to plants or herbs grown in backyards.

Sometimes to make the story sound so special, one is told in the advertising that the drugs are made from secret ‘family’ plants purposely cultivated and which were handed down from great-grandparents.  The claims therefore go to the extent of claiming exclusivity.

Some of the adverts take as much as 15 minutes of air time featuring the supposed medical doctor behind the drug. He or she, with so much confidence, will make wild claims of what their drugs can do and point sufferers to their clinics.

One of the adverts that shocked me to the bone was one where the doctor, after claiming what ailments his drug can heal said that anyone who did not receive his or her healing after the prescribed dosage, could report him to the chief of the town.

That is how bold these herbal medicine practitioners have become in their advertising exposing the extent to which vulnerable sick persons are being exploited. Sadly, they get the patronage and applause from some quarters.

Endorsers

Their adverts carry their endorsers who readily jump on their backs to attest to the efficacy of the drugs.  Their claim is always that they have tested the drugs themselves and have received their healing.

Their words, as sweet as they sound, are always against that of those who may be watching or listening.  It is regrettable therefore that some vulnerable sick persons, desperate for their healing, would fall prey.

For any such sick person desperate to get better where conventional medicine may have failed them, he or she would want to try an alternative medicine if the testimonials in the media space are anything to go by. That is where the danger lies.

It was a kidney specialist I listened to some time ago who did not mince words when he explained that though some herbal medicines were good, not all of them were however certified by the Centre for Herbal Medicine. He consequently advised that patients should be careful of herbal medicinal products advertised on television or radio and check where not sure with their own doctors.

Like this specialist, a lot of medical experts have many a time lamented the increasing number of the population reporting late at hospitals around the country with escalated kidney or liver diseases due to reliance on some of the advertised herbal drugs.

The simple advice quite often has been for patients to check in at the hospital for advice on their health issues and not sit by the radio or television for a “heal all” herbal prescription.

With this month declared as breast cancer awareness month, I have heard some discussions on air where experts are advising women who get the unfortunate disease not to resort to any herbal treatment but to report to the nearest hospital for care.

According to them, though breast cancer patients can be saved through early detection, if one’s case travels beyond detection, the worst thing is for anyone to apply herbal concoctions.

Regulation

For the benefit of this article, I have this week scanned as many as 15 television and radio stations one would hardly ever tune in to. I was awed, asking if there were any regulators in town. Is that how far democracy has travelled? The freedom to sell anything on air and to shout the loudest to be heard?

Indiscriminate advertising of herbal concoctions not tested and approved by regulators should have no place in our advancement as a country. That is why one would passionately appeal to the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) to use its powers to quickly come to the aid of vulnerable patients.

People need to be saved from the poisoned airwaves where herbal practitioners are rushing to sell drugs claiming to heal every disease with no warnings or contraindications as one would find in conventional prescribed drugs.

Let us have some sanity as far as herbal drug administration is concerned. There is a need for varied advertising to be screened and pruned.