Former Gambian health minister says ex-president HIV/AIDS treatment was a joke
Banjul, Gambia (PANA) - Former Gambian health minister Dr Mariatou Jallow told the Gambia Truth Commission here Thursday that former President Yahya Jammeh’s cure of HIV/AIDS, diabetes, infertility, and cancer, among other diseases, was a joke.
Appearing before the Truth Commission, she said Jammeh gave his patients a concoction of herbal medicine.
She said these herbal medicines were not independently verified by a third party. Since his downfall, patients of his HIV treatment have since initiated a lawsuit against him.
In 2007, Jammeh started a treatment programme claiming he could cure HIV/AIDS, diabetes, infertility, and cancer, among other diseases.
A number of Gambian doctors were involved in the process to help administer Jammeh’s herbal medicine.
Dr Jallow told the Truth Commission investigating the human rights violations of the former ruler here that the treatment was a lie.
Dr. Jallow, also former chief executive officer of the Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital, was part of the alternative treatment programme of former president Yahya Jammeh.
She participated in the treatment but claims that Jammeh’s treatment for HIV/AIDS was a lie.
-0- PANA MSS/RA 19Sept/2019
