Cameroon PM meets archbishop over COVID-19 herbal cure

By Felix Tih

ANKARA (AA) - Cameroon Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute on Tuesday met His Grace Samuel Kleda, the archbishop of Douala, to discuss the latter's coronavirus herbal remedy claimed to have cured 1,500 people.

In a tweet, Dion Ngute said the government supports the search for local solutions, in line with strong indications from President Paul Biya. "I also encourage all efforts to develop an endogenous treatment for COVID-19," he added.

''Our discussions focused on the cure based on medicinal plants which he proposes for the treatment of coronavirus."

Kleda said the PM invited him to present what ''I have been doing in terms of the treatment I have set up against the coronavirus, to see how I work so far and how we could better organize things so that the product reaches the greatest number.''

"We are able to supply all Cameroon," the archbishop told reporters after the meeting.

On April 25, the archbishop surprised the public by announcing that he had set up an herbal treatment that cures COVID-19 patients.

Since then hundreds of Cameroonians have been flooding into the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Douala every day to get the said virus herbal remedy.

Kleda claims that his herbal remedy has been administered on approximately 1,500 people. "These are the people with coronavirus symptoms. And after treatment, the symptoms disappeared. So I would say in traditional medicine terms that these people are healed.”

He said they are looking for ways to further his work. "That is to say that the treatment is studied to determine its toxicity and thus popularize it."

"The prime minister, on behalf of the head of state said that they are ready to accompany me," Kleda said.

Cameroon has so far recorded 5,436 coronavirus cases, with 175 deaths, and 1,996 recoveries, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

While several drug trials are ongoing, the World Health Organization says there is currently no proof that any drug can cure or prevent COVID-19.