The herbalist, tucked away in Kasele village in Rongo, Migori district, is flooded with cancer patients seeking help due to expensive hospital treatment and serious side effects.
Although some patients say the herb has relieved or cured their pain, the drug is not approved by any medical organization.
But the clinic’s founder, William Oluwa, 35, said he once tried to get his medicine tested silently at a local lab.
“This powder has been tested to contain 2 grams of protein, 19 percent of the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for vitamin B6, vitamin C – 12 percent of the RDA, iron – 11 percent of the RDA, and riboflavin (B2) – RDA. 11 percent of the RDA, vitamin A (from beta-carotene) – 9 percent of the RDA, and magnesium – 8 percent of the RDA. These components are essential for cancer management,” Oluwa said.
However, the Star was unable to verify the claim.
According to the 2003 Encyclopedia of Food Science and Nutrition, RDA is the average daily diet that helps meet the nutritional requirements of 97 to 98 percent of healthy people of a particular gender, age, life stage, or physiological condition. intake level.
Traditional cancer treatments include surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, laser, hormone therapy and immunotherapy, but at Oluwa’s clinic, patients go home with finely ground herbs for oral consumption. .
“Patients mix it with porridge and take it orally. Sometimes the only challenge we face is when a patient is unable to swallow food, especially in patients with advanced throat cancer,” the practice said. said Festus Ogaro, the hospital’s patient care manager.
Oluwa said his drug has the potential to treat any type of cancer if it is in the early stages.
“The magic is in early detection of the disease. We don’t want to overtly say we’re curing cancer. What we’re curing are the symptoms that cause cancer cells. Cancer is always… It starts out as a manageable, less serious condition. Doctors say the disease can be cured if it’s caught early. We nip it in the bud.” he said.
Oluwa said this does not prevent patients from seeking hospital treatment or management of their symptoms.
But he said patients should not abandon conventional treatments because they are equally effective.
According to patient records, the clinic has a large number of patients diagnosed with illnesses at various hospitals.
This includes people with diseases of the cervix, breasts, throat, prostate, esophagus and liver, the majority of whom are women. Others are recorded as having a “suspected” cancer condition.
Over the past four years, the clinic has treated approximately 2,000 patients classified as confirmed and suspected cases.
Approximately 1,500 patients are currently enrolled in this herbal medicine treatment.
That number increased in 2020 at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Roselyn Ajwang from Uyoma West, Siaya County, and Joshua Marit, a former clinical officer, are some of the patients who attend the clinic in Oluwa.
Ajwan, 75, was diagnosed with cervical cancer three years ago at Avenue Hospital in Kisumu, where she underwent surgery. July 2019.
However, she went to Longo fearing the side effects of the hospital treatment.
“I went to Oluwa. January 2020 And I received medicine. I take the doses religiously and now I don’t feel any pain anymore,” she told the Star.
Marit was diagnosed with benign prostatic hyperplasia at Homa Bay Referral Hospital in 2019.
“I thought about it as a doctor. [retired] And I chose to leave the hospital because I didn’t want to go through surgery and everything that comes with it right away. I signed up for Orwa while I continued to go to the hospital for prostate-specific antigen (PSA) monitoring. After that, the pain subsided,” the 71-year-old said.
“I suspected it was cancer because it was the same complication that killed my father.”
Most patients we interviewed chose Orwa’s drug due to the high cost of conventional treatment and management of cancerous diseases and the severe side effects often associated with such hospital methods. It says.
According to Asbestos.com, herbal medicine is a complementary therapy used by some cancer patients to reduce the side effects of treatment.
However, the health website points out that there are no clinical trials yet to support doctors recommending herbal treatments to cancer patients, so patients should consult their oncologist first.
Asbestos.com believes that traditional prescription drugs have the potential to strengthen the immune system, alleviate cancer symptoms, reduce treatment side effects, slow metastasis, and attack cancer cells. It is emphasized that it cannot be expected to have such an effect.
However, the institute continues to observe that “prescription drugs can have unwanted side effects, and these side effects may motivate people to consider herbal medicine.”
The website states that herbal treatments have mild side effects and are less addictive.
