Why Many Elites Are Going For Herbal Medicine

• Holistic Health Care Practitioner Dr. Bunmi Omoseyindemi

Have you noticed these days that more and more elites are going for herbal medicine to treat all their ailments or health challenges? We can tell you for free that lately, there has been a huge number of elites, who now prefer to treat their ailments the traditional way. They prefer natural cure. They take herbs. They take vegetables. They take fruits. They prefer to depend on natural foods they can get, rather than go to the hospital to consult doctors who will profer Western Medicine. Many reasons explain this. It is affordable. They feel it heals faster and there are so many other reasons.

One medical doctor, who noticed the trend years ago is Dr. Bunmi Omoseyindemi and he quickly took a more than passing interest in it. He is a doctor of Western medicine who took up study of herbal medicine over a decade ago. So, today Dr. Omoseyindemi has become a Holistic health care practitioner. What does that mean? It means he combines Orthodox and traditional medicine.

Lets tell you a bit about Dr. Olubunmi Omobamidele Omoseyindemi who was born 56 year ago. He attended Abeokuta Grammar School, Abeokuta between 1973 and 1977 for his Secondary School Certificate Programme and he also studied at Adeola Odutola College, Ijebu Ode for his Higher School Certificate examination between 1977 and 1979.

Dr. Omoseyindemi obtained his M.B.B.S. from the College of Medicine, University of Lagos in 1985 and between 1996 and 1997, he also attended the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan, Ibadan where he obtained a Master’s degree in African Studies with emphasis on Ethno Medicine. Dr. Omoseyindemi also attended a short course in Anthropological Perspective on Global Health between January and March, 2014.

He worked as a Medical Officer at the General Hospital, San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago, West Indies between 1985 and 1987 and also served in the same capacity at St. Luke Hospital, Lagos between 1989 and 1991. He also served as Medical Director of Global Medical Centre between 1992 and 1996.

Dr. Omoseyindemi became a Consultant to the Nigerian Natural Medicine Development Agency, Federal Ministry of Science and Technology from 1998 to 2000 and within the same period, served as a lecturer in Herbal/ Ethno Medicine.

A thoroughbred medical practitioner, Dr. Omoseyindemi was the Chairman of the Lagos State Traditional Medicine Board between 2001 and 2015.

He is also a member of several professional and strategic committees on health such as:

The West African Health Organisation (WAHO) Experts Committee on Traditional Medicine (2011 till date).

The World Health Organisation ( WHO ) Member, Experts’ Committee on Traditional Medicine (2012 till date ). Lagos State Primary Healthcare Board ( 2009 – 2015 ).

The Lagos State Core Group on Ebola ( 2014 till date ). Chief Coordinator, Lagos State Health Volunteers Scheme ( LSHVS ) among a host of others.

In the course of his medical career, Dr. Omoseyindemi has attended a number of conferences and seminars both locally and internationally. He has also written and published several articles and presented several papers on a wide range of subjects relating to his profession.

He told City People recently that alternative medicine is the way to go. That is why many of the Medical Institutes and Research Centres in the South West have begun researches into natural medicine. The Institute of Medical Research, Yaba is involved in such, so also University of Ibadan, which has designed a programme through which medical students are taught traditional medicine.

And you won’t believe it that there exists a lot of literature from researchers, who have documented the various ways we can use herbs to cure many of our everyday ailment. There are so many books already written that shows the efficacy of herbal medicine. There is Iwe Iwosan by Odumosun, which contains the usefulness of Western African plants.

“What I have discovered from my study is that, there is no disease that can’t be cured with Herbs  “he explains. “I always laugh when people describe our plants and herbs as Fetish because they don’t understand it”

There is also another old book entitled EWE: The use of Plants in Yoruba society by Pierre Fatumbi Verger. The book provides remedies for healing the body.  Many researchers like him over the years have taken interest in Yoruba botany. Pierre Fatunbi did his research alongside the late UI: Bier. He showed in his book that you can use Ewe to overcome different health challenges from Chest Palpitation issues to painful menstruation, to cure coughs. It could be used as memory stimulant.

There is also another book Better Health Through Natural Healing By Trattler Ross. In it, he defined what Natural medicine is, plus how to use natural medicine to heal all the ailments. Chapter by Chapter, the author treats the various ailments and reveals the natural therapies to diseases.

He also delved into Herbs and their uses. “Its painful that we continue to let our people suffer in silence when practically all the ailments can be treated with herbs,” observed Dr. Bunmi Omoseyindemi.

He is about to complete work on his resort called Global Holistic Health Centre in Ideno Village, Itokin in Epe. It’s a 2-in-1 Holistic Botanic Garden, a Recreation and Amusement Centre. Once it is ready people can come in for recreation and camping. He started work on the project in 1999.

Quote: “What I have discovered from my study is that, there is no disease that can’t be cured with Herbs”