The Provost of the College of Health Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Prof. Christian Agyare, is calling for policies to incorporate some standardized herbal creams/ointments in wound management as part of essential medicines list in our healthcare facilities.

Speaking at his professorial inaugural lecture, he posited that the move will augment the existing treatment.

“This will be a welcoming addition to the existing treatment options highlighted in our treatment guidelines and may offer financially competitive edge over existing orthodox options,” he said.

Prof. Agyare’s lecture was on “Treating non-curable infectious diseases and wounds with natural knowledge and products: The relevance of Ethnopharmacological studies.”

His recommendation comes on the back of his research activities which have found some herbal medications to possess wound-healing abilities.

“Taken together, the established wound healing properties of plants from various families of flora found across the country is key milestone for further research and development of alternative therapies for chronic and acute wounds affecting people of all ages.

“In the course of our ethnobotanical surveys to identify and validate medicinal plants used for wound healing applications, we also came across the use of medicinal plants in the treatment of cancers, and found it as another research area of global health interest.

“Some key findings on the flora across the length and breadth of the country have identified the benefits of Bridelia micrantha, Physalis angulata, Phyllanthus muellerianus (local Asante-Twi name: ‘Awobε’), Hilleria latifolia (‘Anafranku’), Laportea ovalifolia(‘Akyekyewonsa’), Combretum mucronatum and Mallotus oppositifolia (‘Nyanyafurowa/Pimpim’) as potential wound healing plants.

Other plants with established wound healing potential are the diverse flora from the Bosomtwi-Atwima-Kwanwoma area of the Ashanti region,” he said.