Kumasi, Oct 18, GNA - Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Asantehene, has stressed the need for research institutions to collaborate with herbalists. He said God had blessed the nation with trees and leaves and that it was high time stakeholders researched into how the potentials in these plants could be tapped for the cure of complicated diseases. He said this in a speech read on his behalf when Dr Samuel Kwame Ampomah, Director of Ampomah Herbal Clinic, called on him at the Manhyia Palace in Kumasi.

The visit was to inform the Otumfuo Osei Tutu on the activities of the clinic as well as herbal and a nursing training institute the herbal doctor had established at Tanoso near Kumasi. Otumfuo Osei Tutu said Africans should have confidence in themselves as well as their natural resources and that just as the Asians had worked hard to achieve a breakthrough in herbal medicine so could Africans also do same with the right technology and research work. Dr Ampomah said his clinic treats several ailments and that there was the need for the Ghana Standards Board and Food and Drugs Board to embark on regular inspections on the market to flush out fake herbal and orthodox medicines. 18 Oct 08