Aiyeloja Tasks Trado-medics, Doctors, Pharmacists On Collaborative Research
As a way of tackling the challenges associated with the standardisation of herbal medicine in Nigeria, trado-medical practitioners, orthodox doctors and pharmacist have been called upon to partner each other to develop an effective healthcare system that would work for every citizen.
The call was made by Professor Adedapo Aiyeloja of the Department of Forestry and Wildlife Management in the Faculty of Agriculture, while delivering the 5th Faculty Lecture Series entitled, Between the Traditional and the Orthodox: Which Way Out? The Lecture held at Board Room of the Faculty on Thursday, September 26, 2019.
The 5th Public Lecture Series Speaker stressed the need to upgrade the National College of Natural Medicine to a University, further recommending that the existing Centre for Research in Traditional Complementary and Alternative Medicine be upgraded to the Alternative Medicine Research Institute of Nigeria (AMRIN). He also advised government to set up a Committee on Alternative Medicine that would search the archive for all the screened, certified and standardised plant products in the country.
The Lecturer further stressed the need to engage in extension services, conduct collaborative research with Colleges of Medicine and Faculties of Pharmacy, with a view to ensuring that research in ethno-medicine is oriented towards products development and tests. He further called for the establishment of a Medicinal Garden and Herbal Unit or Shop at the Faculty and Departmental levels, respectively.
Professor Aiyeloja stated that all the trees and herbs available in Nigeria have huge potentials of providing healing and wellbeing for humans. “Traditional medicine should not be relegated to the background or abandoned as appears to be the case now; we should rather make use of Science and Technology to engage in further studies, and the two systems should be fully integrated to serve the healthcare needs of Nigerians,” he advised.
In his remarks, the Vice Chancellor, Professor Ndowa Lale, who was represented by the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic), Professor Hakeem Fawehinmi, commended the Faculty of Agriculture for sustaining the Lecture series to its fifth edition. He congratulated Professor Aiyeloja for drawing attention to a very critical component of the fledgling health sector, describing the topic of the lecture as very apt.
“There is a very important place for indigenous medical practitioners to complement orthodox practice as is the case in many advanced countries of the world. So, there is a need for policy makers and stakeholders in traditional and orthodox medicines to join forces to professionalise their practice. For instance, the Asians, especially the Chinese and Koreans have successfully fused their trado-medicine and orthodox practices to produce what the world is toasting today in terms of good health and wellness. As an Entrepreneurial University, we have a duty to give strong leadership as we strive to do the same for our country,” Professor Fawehinmi told the gathering.
Speaking earlier, Dean of the Faculty, Professor Monday Godwin-Egein, assured the audience that the series would now be regular, calling for more support for stakeholders engaged in traditional medicine research. He expressed hope that the Professor Aiyeloja and his colleagues would lead the move to create that crucial symbiotic relationship between traditional medicine and orthodox practice as the topic implies.
Presenting the welcome speech on behalf of the Chairman, Professor Aiyeloja, Associate Dean of the Faculty, Dr Henry Ijeomah, described the Faculty Lecture Series as a scholarly debt which every senior academic is expected to pay before retiring from service. He commended all the staff and students for coming out en masse to grace the event.
