Questions raised on the right to use herbal medicine

Attorney General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum says the government’s position on the right to life is clear based on the actions that it is taking.

Sayed-Khaiyum made this comment at a Public Lecture on Fiji’s Constitution and Opportunities at University of the South Pacific.

A member of the public had raised an issue saying that some villagers from Naitasiri had said that their right to life is being breached because herbal medicine is not recognized by the government.

Sayed-Khaiyum then highlighted a case last week where a doctor contacted the Solicitor General’s Office saying that there was a child who’s kidneys were not taking in protein and the young boy was bloated.

He says the mother wanted to take the child and give herbal medicine to him at home.

Sayed-Khaiyum said the doctor said this would mean the boy would die as he needed to take medicine from the hospital.

He says the Solicitor General’s Office then went and got a court order at about 7 o’clock at night to stop the mother from taking her son from the hospital.

The boy was kept at the hospital to take the medicine.

Sayed-Khaiyum says he knows that some people have told some women to take herbal medicine to cure ovarian cancer.

He says he cannot tell the member of public about the right of life provision based on this but the government’s current position is clear as demonstrated in the case where the mother wanted to take her son home to give him herbal medicine.