Semenhyia Herbal Centre: Was Action Against The Centre Vindictive Or Routine?

About two weeks ago, Dr. Stephen K. Opuni, the CEO of Food and Drugs Board (FDB), alerted the public about Semenhyia Herbal Centre whose owner, according to the CEO, has consistently been producing and selling medicines not approved by the board. At the time of the action, only two of Semenhyia's medicines, “Sem Tonic” and “Sem Koo Bitters”, were approved and registered by the FDB on 16th December 2010.

Semenhyia Herbal Centre, located at Obuor road, Kasoa, produces about twenty four different types of herbal medicines for use in the herbal clinic and also for sale to public. The inspectors of the FDB entered the premises of the centre on the 20th January 2011 and declared all the medicines at the herbal centre, except the two that had been approved by the board, as unsafe for the patients and the general public. All other medicines from the centre were removed from the store shelves. The public were alerted and warned about the safety of some products at Semenhyia Herbal Centre. According to Dr. S.K Opuni, the quality, safety and efficacy of the medicines cannot be guaranteed and ordered the immediate suspension of herbal medicine production activities at the facilities of Semenhyia Herbal Centre.

Before FDB's intervention, Semenhyia had submitted seven herbal products to FDB for analysis and registration. After laboratory analyses, all the products were found to be unwholesome due to high levels of yeast and mould contaminations.

The owner of Semenhyia herbal Centre declared hysterically on radio that she had been a victim of Dr. Opuni's sexual demands. According to her she refused to go to bed with the chief executive and that explains her present predicament. Dr. Opuni vehemently denied the allegations. If we consider the fact that there are many herbalists who are producing, advertising and selling herbal medicines of all types which have very certainly not been approved by the board to the public, one may give credence to Maame Ajoa Semenhyia's allegations. If there is no ulterior motive behind the moves against Semenhyia, why are they not extending the strict measures to the other defaulters some of whom are also women?

Malians and Burkinabes and others are peddling unapproved herbal medicines in the full glare of the authorities concerned. These people operate around Nkrumah Circle, Tema Station and the Makola Market area. In Kumasi, they are found at the Kejetia Area. They operate openly in all the big cities in Ghana. They even go around villages peddling their wares. Some years ago, a Malian who sold herbal medicines had carvings of male sexual organs placed on a table before him. He sold medicines which, according to him, can make a man a "striker" in bed. He claimed his medicines were more potent than the most powerful Viagra. A young man who took the medicine had non-stop erection for three consecutive days! When his manhood finally cooled down, he became impotent. He could not bring his “thing” up again. Yet when this seller was interviewed on radio, you could hear him bragging about the efficacy of his medicine. Nobody has arrested this man but Maame Semenhyia languished in police cells for accusing Dr. Opuni.

In 1961 the pharmacy Board was created to oversee and control the practice of pharmacy in the country. However, Section 11 of the FDB PNDCL 305B concentrated mainly on the production of herbal medicine. When the law was extended to include control of the practise, a deep suspicion from the herbalists arose for the pharmacists and the doctors in charge. Some complained about FDB procedures which, according to them, showed no respect for traditional healers and their practice. What FDB always looked out for in the herbal medicine is its efficacy, safety and quality. However, herbal medical practitioners are suspicious of the laboratory analysts, most of them being pharmacists and doctors and, trained in Western medical practice, look down upon the work of traditional herbalists.

Inasmuch as I fully support the noble work of the Food and Drugs Board, I feel Dr. Opuni must drop the case against Maame Semenhyia whose accusations were probably out of frustration. A close cooperation must exist between pharmacists and traditional medical practitioners in the efficacious and safe production of herbal medicine with a view to properly incorporating these herbal medicines into health care delivery in Ghana. Some work is being done in this direction but it is clear that a lot more needs be done.

Written by: Stephen Atta Owusu Author: Dark Faces At Crossroads Email:stephen.owusu@email.com