Prof. Samuel Ato Duncan, the President-General of COA Research and Manufacturing Ltd. and President of GHAFTRAM, has urged the government to include approved herbal medicines on the list of approved medicines on the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

Prof. Samuel Ato Duncan expressed concern that the traditional medicine industry has received very little attention from successive governments

In the meantime, he pointed out that conventional medicine shares the same surname, “medicine,” and emphasized that they should grow up together.

“You cannot raise one and leave the other and blame him for not doing well. The Traditional Medicine Industry needs serious support and attention,” he stated.

Prof. Samuel Ato Duncan has stated that the Green Gold Agenda which is being pushed by Executives of GHAFTRAM is expected to USD 5 billion annually for the country.

That, he said, is more than the proceeds made from cocoa.

The Green Gold Agenda is a program that seeks to harness the potential of Traditional Medicine through research and develop them to international standards for the Global Market as another commodity ( Green Gold) for Ghana

“We expect this to generate over USD 5 billion annually, which is more than that of our proceeds from the cocoa industry,” he stated.

Prof. Samuel Ato Duncan made the statement at the Commemoration of the 22nd African Traditional Medicine (ATM) Day and 25th Traditional Medicine (TM) Week celebration of Ghana held over the weekend, at the Osu Presby Church.

He observed that the herbal medicine industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the world, due to factors such as consumer preference for natural products, the perception that natural products are effective with minimal to no side effects, rising costs for synthetic pharmaceutical drugs, and budget cuts for modern healthcare.

According to him, the global herbal medicinal products market is expected to be valued at USD 177.65 billion by 2029.

President-General of COA Research said in Asian countries including China, India, Singapore, and Malaysia, a significant portion of their total economic revenue is generated from the traditional medicine industry.

He said the aforementioned statistics indicate that the majority of the Earth’s population uses Traditional Medicines and therefore Traditional Medicine needs serious attention.

“It is based on these significant contributions of Traditional Medicine. That is why WHO developed and launched the WHO Traditional Medicine Strategy 2014–2023, which also emphasised the integration of traditional and complementary medicine to promote universal healthcare and to ensure the quality, safety, and efficiency of such medicines,” he stated.

Despite the above statistics, Prof. Samuel Ato Duncan was saddened that in Ghana, the Traditional Medicine Industry has received very little attention from successive governments.

Meanwhile, he noted that Conventional Medicine and Traditional Medicine have one surname, “MEDICINE’ adding that they are twin brothers and must be raised together.

“You cannot raise one and leave the other and blame him for not doing well. The Traditional Medicine Industry needs serious support and attention,” he stated.

The President of GHAFTRAM, therefore, urged the government to consider including approved traditional medicines in the NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE SCHEME.

“On this note, I would like to call on everyone here and all stakeholders to join hands together to make traditional medicine our own. Long live GHAFTRAM, Long live Traditional Medicine,” he stated.

Meanwhile, aside from the Green Gold Agenda, the President of GHAFTRAM who desires to transform the Traditional Medicine Industry into an enviable one mentioned that GHAFTRAM will establish a very firm Administrative Structure to run the Federation and ensure that every Traditional Medicine Practitioner in Ghana is captured in its database and registered with GHAFTRAM.

Again, he said the Federation will help Traditional Medicine Practitioners to standardize their medicines and operations and as well establish a Research Committee made up of Representatives from reputable research institutions and Regulatory bodies.

In addition to the above, Prof. Samuel Ato Duncan said the Federation will establish a TRADITION MEDICINE DEVELOPMENT AND RESEARCH FUND to support research and DEVELOPMENT of Traditional medicine in Ghana and as well look for FUNDS internally and externally to support the industry and expand processing and distribution.