Tucked in Kasere village, Rongo, in Migori county, is a herbalist where cancer patients have been trooping for help due to expensive hospital treatment and severe side effects.
Even though some patients say the herbs have relieved pain or cured them, the medication has not been endorsed by any medical organisation.
The clinic’s founder, William Orwa, 35, however, says he has made attempts to silently test his medicine at a local laboratory.
“The powder was tested and found to have two grammes of protein, Vitamin B6 with 19 per cent of the recommended dietary allowances (RDA), Vitamin C-12 per cent of the RDA, Iron-11 per cent of the RDA, Riboflavin(B2)-11 per cent of the RDA, Vitamin A (from beta carotene)-nine per cent of the RDA–and Magnesium-eight per cent of the RDA. These components are vital for cancer management,” Orwa said.
But the Star could not validate the claim.
According to a 2003 Encyclopedia of Food Sciences and Nutrition, the RDA is the average daily dietary intake level that serves to help meet the nutrient requirements of 97-98 per cent healthy persons of specific sex, age, life stage or physiological condition.
While conventional cancer treatment may involve surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, laser, hormonal therapy and immunotherapy, at Orwa’s clinic, patients go home with a dose of finely ground herbs for oral consumption.
“Patients mix it with porridge then consume it orally. Sometimes the only challenge we get is when a patient cannot swallow food, more so in the case of throat cancer patients whose conditions have advanced,” Festus Ogalo, the clinic's patient relations officer, said.
Orwa said his medicine has the potential to cure all manner of cancers provided the condition is in its initial stages.
“The magic is in the early detection of the disease. We do not want to outrightly say that we are curing cancer. What we are curing are the conditions that lead to cancerous cells. Cancer always starts with a less serious condition which is manageable. In hospital, doctors say the disease is curable when detected early. It is the same case with us. We nip it at the bud,” he said.
Orwa said he does not discourage patients from seeking hospital treatment and management of their conditions.
However, he said patients should not abandon traditional methods of treatment because they are equally effective.
According to patient records, the clinic has many clients whose conditions had been diagnosed at various hospitals.
They include those suffering from cervical, breast, throat, prostate, oesophageal and liver conditions. The majority are women. Others have had their cases recorded as “suspected” cancerous conditions.
The clinic has handled nearly 2,000 patients who have been labelled as confirmed and suspected cases in the past four years.
Some 1,500 patients are currently enrolled for the herbal remedy.
The number rose in 2020 at the height of Covid-19 pandemic.
Roselyne Ajwang' of West Uyoma in Siaya county and Joshua Malit, a retired clinical officer, are some of the patients who attend Orwa’s clinic.
Ajwang', 75, was diagnosed with cervical cancer three years ago at Avenue Hospital in Kisumu, where she proceeded for surgery in July 2019.
However, she went to Rongo for fear of the side effects of the hospital treatment methods.
"I went to Orwa in January 2020 and received medication. I have religiously taken my doses and now I experience pain no more," she told the Star.
Malit was diagnosed with enlargement of the prostate at Homa Bay Referral hospital in 2019.
"I thought as a medic [retired] and opted out of hospital because I did not want to go straight to surgery and all that comes with it. While I continued to visit the hospital for prostate specific antigen (PSA) monitoring, I enrolled for Orwa's doses. The pain has since subsided," the 71-year-old said.
"I suspected I had cancer, because it was the same complication that had killed my father."
Most patients whom we interviewed say they opt for Orwa’s drugs due to the high cost of conventional treatment and management of cancerous conditions and severe side effects that often accompany such hospital methods.
According to Asbestos.com, herbal medicine is a complementary therapy that some people with cancer use to relieve treatment side effects.
However, the health website notes that there are no clinical trials yet that doctors can rely on to recommend herbal treatment to cancer patients, and so, patients should first consult with an oncologist.
Asbestos.com stresses that whereas herbal medicines have the potential to boost the immune system, easing cancer symptoms, reducing treatment side effects, slowing spread and attacking cancerous cells, the herbs cannot be as effective as conventional prescription medications.
However, it continues to observe that “prescription medications may come with unwanted side effects and these side effects may motivate people to consider herbal medicine.”
With herbal remedies, the side effects are mild and dependency is lower, the website records.