According to the Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, while speaking at the 3rd Annual Guest Lecture organized by Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria, MHWUN, in Abuja, the new course to be introduced is herbal medicine.
He said: "They say we cannot achieve universal health coverage unless herbal medicine practitioners are involved. But I say they must be trained.
"Finally, a committee has submitted a curriculum which we are going to take to the National Council on Health, NCH, very beautiful curriculum. We are taking herbal medicine to the university.
"Without it, there is no integration. This is because if you are a herbal practitioner, you are a doctor. A herbalist is a doctor. But the first function of a doctor is to take a diagnosis.
"Is it Lassa fever or Ebola? Or is it Dengue or is it malaria or typhoid? You have to get the answer before you begin to give that herb.
"You cannot do that unless you learn those sciences that will enable you get the results- physiology, pharmacology, pathology, anatomy, biochemistry and all others. If you don't learn them, you will not know anything about the human body.
"The herbal practitioners are working with me because they saw what we are doing. Hopefully, once the NCH approved it, it is possible that by next year, in Joint Admission Matriculation Examinations, JAMB, some people may be filling to read herbal medicine."
Chukwu however, stated that for the health sector to attain the desired progress, there was need for dominance and high participation of non-government practitioners in the sector.
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