Nigerian Union of Practitioners of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NUPCAM), Lagos is taking a bold step at repositioning natural medicine in Nigeria.
To this end, it is collaborating with Nigerian Natural Medicine Development Agency (NNMDA) to advocate for its place as a veritable partner in health care delivery in Nigeria.
NUPCAM Lagos visited the newly re-engineered NNMDA, being repositioned by the new director general, Professor Martins Emeje as an advocate of natural medicine.
In his remarks, Professor Emeje noted that if natural medicine is not placed as a second fiddle, it is capable of solving the problem of brain drain popularly known as JAPA syndrome in medical practice in Nigeria.
In his own comment, the deputy national president of NUPCAM, Professor Baderinwa Adewale pledged the support of the union to make the dream of training more pragmatic practitioners a reality.
The Lagos State NUPCAM chairman, Dr Isaac Ayodele, thanked the federal government for appointing Professor Martins Emeje as the new director-general of NNMDA, who he described as a right peg in the right hole.
He maintained that Professor Emeje, who is a professor of pharmacy and a frontline natural medicine advocate will take natural medicine to greater heights in Nigeria.
Also present at the NNMDA and NUPCAM Lagos strategic meeting were all the directors and heads of departments of NNMDA as well as some exco members of NUPCAM, Lagos.
NUPCAM is endorsed by the Federal Ministry of Health as the umbrella body for all practitioners of Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Nigeria.