Iranian arrested over AIDS drug
Apr 27, 2006
THE Government has ordered Iranian Prof. Sheik Allagholi Elahi to stop his activities and claims that he has a cure for HIV/AIDS using Khomeini products. Elahi has subsequently been arrested.
By Herbert Ssempogo and Anne Mugisa
THE Government has ordered Iranian Prof. Sheik Allagholi Elahi to stop his activities and claims that he has a cure for HIV/AIDS using Khomeini products. Elahi has subsequently been arrested.
Elahi, who claims that his drug expels the HIV virus from the body, was arrested on Tuesday at 4:00pm at his offices at Naguru, a city suburb.
Four other people working with him were also arrested and are helping the Police with investigations, Police anti-narcotics chief Pearson Barasha said.
The Ministry of Health directive and subsequent arrest of Elahi followed findings by experts that Elahi’s claims were false and that people who he said he had cured of HIV/AIDS still remained HIV-positive.
The experts also said Elahi’s products, called Khomeini I, II and III, are just herbal products that contain varying proportions of honey and olive oil, which can be got by anyone from any market or shop.
Following the investigation report, the ministry directed that Elahi’s Institute of Elahi International Initiatives for Development and Education must stop treatment of patients and distribution of all its products in Uganda with immediate effect.
Khomeini is a powder whose 99% components come from Uganda and only 1% is imported from Iran.
It is mixed with yoghurt, before a patient takes it Elahi started treating HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis with Khomeini in 2000 at sh3m a dose.
“None of the reviewed patients who were treated with these products had any change in their HIV status. Khomeini did not show any medicinal value in the treatment of HIV/AIDS patients,†the Director General of Health Services, Dr. Sam Zaramba, said, adding that 39 patients were evaluated and samples of the substances tested by reputable institutions.
The ministry warned that the public should not take Khomeini products for treatment of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis and that those using them do it at their own risk.
“The public should, therefore, desist from going to Prof. Elahi on Katalina Road seeking a cure.
“Patients on Khomeini products are advised to abandon them and take proper treatment, including ARVs.
The public is warned that the products are not a cure for HIV/AIDS and anyone taking them does so at his or her own risk,†the warning said.
It advised patients under Elahi’s care to seek appropriate treatment from accredited health facilities.
CID officers and a team from the National Drug Authority (NDA) inspected Elahi’s premises before the arrest, Barasha said.
Elahi was taken to the Central Police Station in Kampala.
Elahi will face charges including manufacturing or preparing a drug without the approval of the NDA and supply of restricted drugs from premises without a general or limited certificate licensed by the NDA.
“We are preparing the file and probably by the end of the day we will have submitted it to the DPP, who will advise us on the charges,†Barasha said.
THE Government has ordered Iranian Prof. Sheik Allagholi Elahi to stop his activities and claims that he has a cure for HIV/AIDS using Khomeini products. Elahi has subsequently been arrested.
Elahi, who claims that his drug expels the HIV virus from the body, was arrested on Tuesday at 4:00pm at his offices at Naguru, a city suburb.
Four other people working with him were also arrested and are helping the Police with investigations, Police anti-narcotics chief Pearson Barasha said.
The Ministry of Health directive and subsequent arrest of Elahi followed findings by experts that Elahi’s claims were false and that people who he said he had cured of HIV/AIDS still remained HIV-positive.
The experts also said Elahi’s products, called Khomeini I, II and III, are just herbal products that contain varying proportions of honey and olive oil, which can be got by anyone from any market or shop.
Following the investigation report, the ministry directed that Elahi’s Institute of Elahi International Initiatives for Development and Education must stop treatment of patients and distribution of all its products in Uganda with immediate effect.
Khomeini is a powder whose 99% components come from Uganda and only 1% is imported from Iran.
It is mixed with yoghurt, before a patient takes it Elahi started treating HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis with Khomeini in 2000 at sh3m a dose.
“None of the reviewed patients who were treated with these products had any change in their HIV status. Khomeini did not show any medicinal value in the treatment of HIV/AIDS patients,†the Director General of Health Services, Dr. Sam Zaramba, said, adding that 39 patients were evaluated and samples of the substances tested by reputable institutions.
The ministry warned that the public should not take Khomeini products for treatment of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis and that those using them do it at their own risk.
“The public should, therefore, desist from going to Prof. Elahi on Katalina Road seeking a cure.
“Patients on Khomeini products are advised to abandon them and take proper treatment, including ARVs.
The public is warned that the products are not a cure for HIV/AIDS and anyone taking them does so at his or her own risk,†the warning said.
It advised patients under Elahi’s care to seek appropriate treatment from accredited health facilities.
CID officers and a team from the National Drug Authority (NDA) inspected Elahi’s premises before the arrest, Barasha said.
Elahi was taken to the Central Police Station in Kampala.
Elahi will face charges including manufacturing or preparing a drug without the approval of the NDA and supply of restricted drugs from premises without a general or limited certificate licensed by the NDA.
“We are preparing the file and probably by the end of the day we will have submitted it to the DPP, who will advise us on the charges,†Barasha said.