PNG medicine men promise miracle cures

PNG medicine men promise miracle cures

By Patrick Matbob

BY the busy Madang market centre in Papua New Guinea they stand displaying their wares. Pasted on the market fence behind them, crude notices advertise the wonder drugs they sell. The drugs promise to cure anything from common cold to AIDS. There is even a PNG national flag to make things look ‘official’, and numerous ‘medical forms’ displayed as ‘evidence’ of the curative qualities of the drugs they sell.

These are the herbal doctors of PNG, the modern kind, who are becoming increasingly popular in the nation’s major centres for the herbal medicines they sell. They have cashed in on a lucrative niche in the commercial drug market brought about by the increasing medical costs, and deteriorating public health systems throughout PNG.

“We get patients from the hospitals, villages, or even workers in the towns,” said Raphael Paul, 33, who was manning one of the two stalls.

“People suffer. They go to chemists or private doctors, but get no help so they come to us,” he said.

Raphael who comes from Bogia in Madang province has no medical background. He was educated up to Grade 10 in high school and worked in various jobs in Lae city before returning home. There he attended a one-week workshop held by a ‘Dr Hanekuvi’ of Goroka in the Eastern Highlands. This has ‘qualified’ him to diagnose, recommend and sell herbal medicines to cure a wide range of ailments in the market place.

Little is known about ‘Dr Hanekuvi’ who was out of town except that he also has no medical qualifications. Raphael said he was an artist who did a ‘life study’ of plants, insects and human life. It was through this study that he was able to discover the herbal drugs he now used to effect miracle cures.

‘Dr Hanekuvi’s’ medicines were all in liquid form and was made, I was told, from garden fruits, roots and leaves. These are boiled in a pot and the juice is extracted. The concoctions are filled into empty 500mls coke bottles and sold at K12 ($5 AUS) per bottle.

“If someone has a strong disease, he returns to continue treatment. Otherwise, it cures.”

At K12 per coke bottle, I thought the price was a little expensive, but as we were talking, someone came and purchased a bottle. Raphael wrote him a receipt then advised him about the dosage. An empty iceblock plastic cup served as the measuring cup.

Meanwhile, the medical authorities in Madang are cautious about these herbal doctors and their medication.

“The contents of the herbs have to be tested,” said Chief Executive of the Modilon Hospital, Mr John Levi. “They have to be registered.”

Mr Levi said those who are promoting and selling herbal medicine must be registered and their herbs scientifically tested to determine whether they really cure the illnesses they claim to.

He said PNG’s National Health Plan for 2001 to 2010 has a policy to identify and register traditional herbal medicine for treatment of diseases.

For the claims to cure AIDS, Mr Levi said; “I don’t think anyone has discovered the medication to cure AIDS yet.”

His advice to the community is to be aware that they may be paying for something “not appropriate which does not cure AIDS.”

He also warned that some of the herbal vendors are just scams to make money.

Not all herbal medicine vendors in PNG operate illegally on the streets.

Minnie Bate is a qualified medical technologist from Milne Bay and runs Gemins Herbal. She has the distinction of being the first Papua New Guinean to promote PNG herbal products on a commercial scale. Minnie runs Gemins Herbal Products in Alotau. Gemins Herbal Products come in oils and cream and they are mostly for external application.

“The jungle is my pharmacy,” declared Minnie. Conditions which Minnie’s products are recommended to cure are skin impetigo, psoriasis, asthma, chronic dermatitis, numbness, warts, arthritis in septic form and vericose veins.

Her products were recently promoted at an Investment Promotion Authority (IPA) seminar in Australia.

There are also other supporters of traditional herbal medicine in PNG. World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is encouraging in the Pacific, the use of traditional plants for curing common ailments. Oceania Traffic, a non-government organisation which specialises in the monitoring of trade in animals and plants is working closely with WWF on a project to determine if there is a medicinal plant traffic in the Pacific.

While herbal medication is big worldwide, there are always those who are out to make a quick buck.

Janget herbs owned by Simon Janget of East Sepik also shares a spot at the Madang market. Janget claimed his drugs were multi-purpose which he explained “worked in the blood cells, cleansing the blood, killing virus, germs and discharging it through urine and sweat.”

As expected Janget also has no medical background. In fact, he proudly claims to be a mechanical engineer. He said his knowledge came from doing correspondence course with an organisation called Health Science in New York. His concoctions were made from saps of trees and vines in the nearby jungles and again are supposed to cure all ailments, AIDS included. His products would cost you dearly too  - K50 ($20 AUS) per 500 ml coke bottle.

Hospital authorities at Modilon hospital have confirmed that Janget has approached them requesting official recognition for the work he is doing. They have advised him that his products will have to be scientifically tested, its curative qualities verified, its contents identified and labelled, and he must have a licence to trade.

Before I left the stalls, I asked if I could try some of the medicine. The attendants gladly mixed a little bit from each of the different coloured concoctions and offered me a plastic cup. The mixture had a strong scent of citrus or sugar fruits. I took a sip. It tasted like an extremely watered down passion fruit drink, not bitter or nasty, but certainly not something you would want to take for breakfast. I was told if I had any ailment at all, this mixture would cure it. I offered the rest of the medicine to the people around me. Two volunteers immediately stepped forward.

I did not find out what disease they suffered from but at K50 per bottle, I could understand their eagerness.

Ends

WC: 1048