Survivors call for the withdrawal of medical licences of two doctors
 |
| Yahya Jammeh prays while
administering his alleged herbal HIV cure to a patient at the State
House in Banjul. Photo | AP | 2007
|
A
former chief executive officer of the Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital in
Banjul this afternoon said the ousted dictator’s treatment of HIV/AIDS patients
was based on a lie.
Jammeh, whose 22 years reign was marked by allegations of massive
rights abuses, announced in 2007 that he could cure AIDS and forced patients to
undergo a “treatment programme”.
The
alternative treatment programme was a “hoax”, Dr. Mariatou Jallow, who was among
doctors working with the former president, told the Truth Commission which is
investigating human rights abuses under his rule.
Dr.
Jallow also said the doctors who participated in the treatment knew Jammeh’s
claim of a cure for HIV/AIDS was a lie.
The
former iron-fist ruler claimed to have extraordinary powers.
He also claimed he could cure diabetes, infertility, and cancer – using herbal
medicine.
A
number of Gambian doctors were involved in the process of administering the herbal
medicine, some of which were made of boiled banana leaves.
In
June 2018, three people who had undergone Jammeh’s AIDS treatment programme sued
him over allegations of detention and abuse.
They
accused Jammeh of using them as guinea pigs to test his supposed cure, and
being subjected to inhumane and degrading treatment, their lawyer Combeh Gaye is
quoted as saying.
Revoke licences
Shortly
after Dr. Jallow’s testimony, the three survivors of Jammeh’s AIDS programme
(two men and a woman), called for the revocation of medical licences of Dr. Tamsir Mbowe and Dr. Malick Njie.
Complaints
have been filed with the Gambia Medical and Dental Council.
Both
Mbowe and Njie are ex-ministers of health under Jammeh and have worked with
Jammeh at different points under the fake AIDS cure programme.
“It
is important that Jammeh and his collaborators be brought to account,” said
Paula Donovan, co-director of AIDS-Free World which support the survivors’ suit
against Jammeh.
“We
are engaged in these actions to highlight the silence and complicity of the
international community.”
Oludayo
Fagbemi, a legal officer with the Banjul-based Institute for Human Rights and
Development in Africa, said the two medical doctors were engaged in “professional
misconduct” by lending credibility and prestige to Jammeh's “cure”.
“…they
should be subject to severe penalties," Fagbemi said. "The Council
has a responsibility to send a signal to the medical profession that such gross
disregard for human rights will not be tolerated."
Under
Jammeh’s fake HIV/AIDS cure, patients were ordered to stop all western
medication including anti-retroviral drugs.
Under the threat of a West African military intervention, Jammeh was forced out of office in January 2017 after 22 years in power. He now lives
in Equatorial Guinea.
Written by Modou S. Joof
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