The weather was drizzly in the morning of June 23 as Dataphyte reporter went to Chinese clinics in Abuja to learn more about the services they offered to patients. It was also an opportunity to investigate the level of oversight from the appropriate governmental bodies. The reporter went to two of these locations in the nation’s capital.
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is offered in these clinics. To treat medical conditions, TCM practitioners employ a variety of psychological and/or physical techniques (such as acupuncture and tai chi) as well as herbal remedies.
Acupuncture deals with insertion of very thin needles into the body at different locations and depths in order to balance life forces, says Medical News Today.
Tai Chi, on the other hand, involves the spiritual gentle exercises that create harmony between the mind and body, according to Tai Chi For Health Institute.
Fohow International (Nigeria) Limited is one of these clinics, and it’s situated on the lonely fourth floor of MKK Plaza in Gudu, Abuja. Details from the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) suggest that the entity was registered in 2010 with a registration number 905616 to conduct business in the “marine transportation, general trading, supplies, and contract sectors.” Results from Dataphyte’s visit to the facilities, however, showed the opposite.
Dataphyte’s checks showed that three Chinese -Li Fan, Shen Zhongcai and Han Jinming – sit as its directors, while three Nigerians -Bukola Johnson O., Tokunbo Fayemi and Olaniyi Adegbite- serve as the company’s lawyer, witness and secretary respectively.
The reporter took on the persona of a patient with severe back pains, who had tried numerous analgesics in search of relief in order to comprehend the operations and activities of the clinic. The reporter did not, however, have back pains.
The reporter was requested to run a test that cost N5,000 as a first-time patient. Instead of the company’s account, payment was made into Egbo Love Chekwubechi’s personal account, who also happens to be the clinic manager. The reporter was called in to have the test done after payment confirmation.
Fohow utilises a quantum magnetic resonance analyzer to test its patients. It operates by having one’s palm rest on the sensor while the computer-connected kit-like equipment reads and displays the results to the user. The non-invasive analysis won’t use any blood testing or radiation to produce its findings.
Initially, the test was run twice. Love, however, remained perplexed because the first and second rounds of the test seemed to have different outcomes. She asked her colleague to re-adjust the wires connecting the analyzer and the computer before doing the third test.
“You can see how the system works, it will check through from head to toe and diagnose your system,” Love said, while she turned the computer screen for the reporter to see.
An animation of a skeleton rotating anticlockwise showed how the analyzer was diagnosing the reporter’s body system on the screen.
In less than two minutes, a lengthy list of the outcomes was prepared and read aloud to the reporter. Love also filled up the results sheet with her writing.
Without making a copy for her own use or for records, Love handed the reporter the results sheet to take away.
According to her, the analyser diagnosed different test items that included cardiovascular and cerebrovascular, gastrointestinal, liver, kidney functions, as well as brain nerve, bone mineral density and blood sugar.
Other items were trace elements, vitamins, amino acid, immune system, and fatty acid.
Interestingly, according to Love, the analyser “could ‘tell human consciousness level.”
“You don’t like shame and you are peaceful. Peace indicator is in green and shame is in red,” she claimed.
That was the result of the diagnosis.
Regarding the pains, which prompted the test in the first place, Love asserted that it was caused by inadequate blood circulation.
She said, “From my findings, there is poor blood circulation and this is a sign for the back pain that you complained about. I am going to give you some drugs for it and you will be fine.”
Love handed the reporter a N177,000 bill and urged him to begin therapy right away. Depending on his financial situation, the reporter could purchase the medications in bits and pieces, she said.
“You can just pick the one you can afford now and come back for the rest. You may not need to come if the first one works,” she boasted.
The list included six different detoxification medications totaling N100,000 that would be used throughout the first phase of treatment. Three additional medications claimed to treat back pains were listed by her.
The reporter observed that the facility also served as an office space for an unregistered health establishment when we checked the CAC company registry. The name of the health establishment is, “Love Healthcare and Empowerment Initiative.” Love’s contact details were listed on the banner.
The banner claimed that the facility offered a wide range of physiotherapy services, including reflexology, deep tissue massage, stroke rehabilitation massage, fertility massage, and whole body massage.
Drug prescription over phone without test
The reporter changed locations and went to Tiens, another Chinese herbal store. Tiens is a worldwide corporation and multi-level marketing business with its headquarters in Tianjin, China. One of its offices in Abuja is situated on the left wing, last floor of Mallam Shehu Plaza, Jabi.
Aside being a multi-level marketing scheme, Tiens also operates as a pyramid scheme for wealth – making for its distributors. In other words, as a distributor of its products, you move up in stages with a higher financial commission.
Tiens advertises its goods as dietary supplements and “wellness equipment” in the West. However, in Nigeria and other parts of West Africa, it is marketed as cures for all manner of ailments and diseases.
In 2016, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an advisory letter warning Tiens that its claim of treating or preventing “asthma, cancer, rheumatism, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, myocardial infarction, stroke, sexually transmitted diseases (e.g., herpes), cerebral embolism, and dementia violates the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.”
Again, in 2022, the FDA listed Tiens products among “Products Illegally Marketed for Serious Diseases”
But it operates in Nigeria as a cure-all. Its facility did not have the appearance of a health centre when the reporter visited. It shares the space it occupies with another business owner, but it is demarcated with some plywood. The reporter initially encountered a locked office but was fortunate to find a phone number from a Google search.
The contact information was for Agnes Akwaraonwu, who claimed to be a preventative health coach. She runs that particular office of Tiens as a distributor.
Over the phone, the reporter voiced the same complaint of back pains. Agnes said, “My colleague is around; let me call her. You need to just go upstairs; she will be waiting for you.”
A woman, Maria, was standing by to welcome the reporter upstairs. Maria identified herself as the office manager for that specific Tiens office.
Agnes, who was obviously not at that scene, called again on the phone to take complaints and then made a prescription. She gave Maria the go-ahead to dispense three medications when the reporter complained of back discomfort, and a text message with the list of drugs was sent to the reporter’s phone.
Drugs without NAFDAC registration numbers, some with fake registration numbers
At the earlier health facility, Fohow, the reporter had purchased the detoxifying medication that cost N11,000. According to the labels, the medication known as “detox plus” has roughly 17 health advantages, including preventing cancer, treating malaria and typhoid fever, enhancing male and female fertility, aiding weight loss, promoting kidney and liver health, and improving vision.
Nevertheless, although being touted to have numerous health advantages, this specific medication lacks an approved registration number from the National Agency for Drug and Food Administration Control (NAFDAC).
The NAFDAC is in charge of policing the production, distribution, sale, and use of food, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, medical equipment, chemicals, and packaged water in Nigeria. It also oversees the importation and exportation of these products.
Section 1(1) of the NAFDAC’s Food, Drugs and Related Products Act states that no drug should be manufactured, exported, advertised, sold or distributed in Nigeria unless it has been registered.
“Any product without a NAFDAC registration number is not approved by us,” the NAFDAC spokesperson told Dataphyte.
Except for “detox plus,” which lacks a NAFDAC Registration Number (NRN), two of the prescribed medications have NRNs: A7-1785 and A7-1425L. They, however , returned “no matching records found” when the NAFDAC greenbook, which contains Nigeria’s registered drug database, was checked and verified.
The NAFDAC spokesperson, Mr Sayo Akinyola, told Dataphyte that the numbers were fake and that the check’s result indicated that the medications had not been registered.
He said, “Since you checked on the registered drugs database and it brought that response you mentioned, it means it has not gone through a clinical trial, not to even talk of us registering it.”
The same thing happened when Tiens’ drug -NRN A7-0310L – was checked and there was no record of it in the NAFDAC drug database.
The NAFDAC spokesperson confirmed to Dataphyte that any product without NAFDAC registration number was not approved by the agency.
The process of getting drug registered is long – NAFDAC
On all of the drugs, there is usually a statement that says, “These claims have not been evaluated by NAFDAC.”
But this notice is usually provided on items that have only completed the first step of the trial, according to Akinyola, who noted that medications and other medical products must pass three phases of clinical studies before being licenced for sale.
At the first stage, when an application is submitted to NAFDAC, the product is referred to as a formulation rather than a drug. According to him, the formulation’s safety and potency were often tested.
“At this first stage, we test two things. One is safety of this formulation. Is it good for human consumption? The second is to test the potency by checking how effective it will be on the ailment it is out to cure,”
According to the spokesperson, the first stage of clinical trials were often tested on rodents and other animals. “Anything that can kill an animal has the tendency to kill a human being,” he stated.
An approval that is renewable every two years is given once the initial stage is over and claims of safety and potency have been verified as true. The market has a small range, and the approval is only temporary, he noted.
In order to monitor the negative effects on humans, the medicine is tested on a maximum of 100 people during the second stage of the trial. Akinyola stated that the medicine might be approved for the market if the test was successful in 98 people and only two people showed minor side effects.
The third leg of the clinical trial involves thousands of people. At this stage, the government would get involved because of the expensive nature of that stage. Akinyola said, “It takes a very long process and procedure before it can be completed.”
He added that the NAFDAC registration number was only issued at successful completion of the second stage and not the first.
When asked if imported medical products also went through the process, he said NAFDAC had pre shipment inspection agents and authorised laboratories abroad. “All drugs and medical products that are to be imported into Nigeria are subjected to clinical trials, it is only after the processes are satisfactory that registration numbers are issued to them and they are allowed to come in.”
A lawyer, Mr Sam Oyigbo, said those selling unregistered drugs could be charged with impersonation, murder, practicing without license, or administration of fake/unregistered drugs.
“If they are impersonating doctors, then that is impersonation. If their drugs have resulted in death, then they are liable to murder. NAFDAC can also charge them with administration of fake or unregistered drugs,” he added.