NDA arrests herbalists for vending fake drugs

By John Masaba

KAMPALA - Sixteen herbalists including four Kenyans Masai medicine men have been arrested by National Drug Authority (NDA) in Kampala for hawking fake drugs.

NDA said the herbalists were found selling concoctions dangerous to human life.

NDA’s executive secretary, Gordon Sematiko, said some of the herbalists were laced with dangerous chemicals, putting at risk lives of many people.

 “We tested some the drugs in our laboratories and found that one of them was selling a drug that had a mix of pesticides used to spray tomatoes. Unaware of this, many people are buying the drugs and exposing themselves to cancer and dangerous diseases,” he said.

He added: “Another had bottled a concoction labeled as a drug that cures 50 diseases, including syphilis and gonorrhea. But when we tested it in our laboratories, it was just a mix of water and soap.”

Sematiko said although some of the drugs were found to contain the right ingredients, the dealers were found to be operating against the NDA Act rules, one of which requires that all operators be licensed by government.

National Council of Traditional Healers and Herbalists Associations of Uganda (NACOTHA) general secretary, Abdulkarim Musasizi, however, dismissed the allegations  and instead accused NDA of harassing it members.

“I was not aware, for example, that it was illegal to wire a speaker to my car and use it to announce my medicine. Instead of arresting our members they should first sensitize us,” he said. 

He said a number of their members have fled their homes for fear being arrested.  
 

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NDA's Sematiko said they had received complaints from the medical fraternity over fake herbalists. PHOTO/Procopios Lumu

Sematiko defended the arrests saying they have received a lot of complaints from the medical fraternity to rein in the unscrupulous herbalists.

However, he said the authority was incapacitated by the lack of facilities and inadequate funding.

“That has now changed. We have received special funding from government. We have set a special desk for herbalists,” he said, adding that that authority received six vehicles and four containers of lab testing equipment for herbal medicine.

An official at the authority put the number of herbalists at 42,000. However, many have been operating under the supervision of their respectful associations.

With East African community becoming a reality, the official said the government wants to regulate the industry and ensure compliance with quality measures to rid the health sector of sub-standard products.

According to the official, this was included in the East African Community report prepared in May in Zanzibar by health ministers from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. 

Under the new arrangement, herbalists across will be expected to have a cure practicing certificates and have their drugs certified by NDA or face arrest.