HEALTH minister Obadiah Moyo yesterday said the country was
carrying out a research on COVID-19 cure which includes herbal remedies.
Moyo made the remarks in Parliament when he appeared before
the Doubt Ndiweni-led Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health and Child
Care.
“We have seen Madagascar coming up with their form of
therapy and in Zimbabwe everything is being put on clinical trial and must be
approved by the World Health Organisation to ensure that any claim to a cure is
relevant and correct,” Moyo said.
Madagascar has come up with a drink, Covid-Organics, which
authorities claim can cure COVID-19.
The herbal remedy is made up of a herbal tonic, produced
from the artemisia plant — the source of an ingredient which is used in a
malaria treatment — and other plants from Madagascar.
The World Health Organisation has warned against using
drugs or herbs that are not backed by scientific research.
Moyo also said while most of the equipment and financial
assistance came from development partners, Finance minister Mthuli Ncube had
injected US$3 million to ensure there were no stock outs of personal protective
equipment and other COVID-19 essentials.
“We have several Zimbabweans coming through with donations
but the biggest donor is Sakunda Holdings. We have recorded everything and
there is a lot of transparency and the money is deposited into a Finance
ministry account,” Moyo said.
But civil society organisations have expressed concern over
the COVID-19 allocations by Ncube without Parliament approval. Other
Zimbabweans are also suspicious that individual nostro accounts might be raided
for COVID-19 funding.
Zimbabwe has recorded 56 COVID-19 cases, including 27 recoveries
and four deaths, while neighbouring South Africa, a hotspot in Africa, has over
23 615 confirmed cases, 11 917 recoveries and 481 deaths. Newsday
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