Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan is condemning self-proclaimed herbalist Trevor Sayers’ latest claim that he has the cure for Ebola.
He is also calling for the Consumer Affairs Division and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to take action against other herbal practitioners who make false claims about their products and their ability to cure various major diseases.
Flyers have appeared on buildings, and an advertisement has been circulating on Facebook purporting a herbal cure for the deadly virus: Ebola treatment Ebola Cure from Dr Trevor Sayers, lime, honey, bayleaf, zephapeak (sic), Christmas bush, ashes and charcoal.
Speaking to the Sunday Guardian in a telephone interview yesterday, Khan said, “That is carrying this nonsense to the highest extreme, and people have to understand this man now...if he’s trying to use Ebola to make money.
“We have to look at what is happening now under the guise of economical self interest.
“I’m condemning that advertisement and all others that indicate that herbal medicine can cure diseases without proper analysis.
“I also wish that the Consumer Affairs Division and the DPP, which we have written to about that same character’s false advertising about cancer cures, should take serious action.”
He said flyers for the Ebola cure had been placed all over the hospitals and notice boards, and he had instructed doctors to remove them.
Khan said there was no proof in Sayers’ claims as well as other herbal practitioners who were using innuendoes and supposition to fool the general public. Khan said there was no scientific basis for a lot of these herbal medicines except hearsay evidence.
He said Sayers had now gone to the extreme with these advertisements.
Khan said Sayers’ claim was not legal and was false advertising.
He said, however, the Medical Board couldn’t do anything except condemn Sayers’ action. He said he didn’t know what to do again, and that as Health Minister all he can do is bring the matter to the authorities.
Khan said Sayers uses “doctor” before his name and by law he should be dealt with by the legal authorities. He said the title was only reserved for people who have PhDs from recognised universities and pertaining to the medical profession.
Trinidade: Sayers has no cure for Ebola
When contacted yesterday, Dr Austin Trinidade, public relations officers of the T&T Medical Association said Sayers had no cure for Ebola and there was no scientific proof of the effectiveness of herbal medicine.
He said doctors only prescribed medicines that had undergone strict scientific testing and had benefits over a placebo and were also approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.
Trinidade said the association did not recommend herbal preparations which may be good for cleaning you out and providing some kind of tonic, but did not cure diseases.
He said there was major danger that people would stop taking their medicines which were known to work and use herbal supplements which were ineffective and also expensive.
Trinidade said it was not Sayers alone but a whole slew of herbal “pitchmen” that advertised a cure for virtually everything. He said it was dangerous and that it was a pity unsuspecting people were exposed to this.
Sayers: Ebola cure from Africa
When contacted yesterday, Sayers, the self-ascribed minister of naturalized herbs and healing said his herbal product was his natural approach to dealing with Ebola and other deadly diseases.
He said people needed to build their bodies’ resistance to disease and infections.
Sayers said more than 4,000 people had died worldwide from Ebola, but in T&T more people have died from diabetes and hypertension combined than the deadly virus.
When asked how he discovered his cure for Ebola, he said the information on fevers, auto immune diseases that attack, paralyse the body and cause haemorrhaging has been known by ancient African civilisations from time immemorial by such tribes as the Mandingo near the Ebola river in northern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Sayers said with the ancient knowledge and information from the healers in Africa, he had made many medicines for various ailments and infections, and had even been successful in treating Aids patients with his herbal remedies.
When asked about the cost of his Ebola cure, he said he had given the information for people to use and he wanted to let the health authorities know it worked. Sayers, asked if he had tested his Ebola cure and how he brought it to market so fast as the World Health Organization had announced that millions of doses of experimental Ebola vaccines will be produced by the end of 2015, said vaccines of that nature only worked on less deadly viruses and “don’t really help.”