The fourth batch of thirty-two HIV/AIDS patients from different countries in Africa who are suffering from the HIV virus last Thursday assembled at Kanilai for President Yahya Jammeh’s herbal treatment.
The patients, who comprised twenty-five Gambians, three Guineans, two Senegalese, a Malawian and one Ivorian based in Italy lined up for the treatment.

Addressing the HIV/AIDS patients in his home town of Kanilai, President Jammeh said “first of all, I want to thank the Almighty Allah who has made it possible for us to be able to take care of a disease that has threatened Africa and the black race. I don’t intend to make a long statement. What I want to assure the patients is that my intention is to make the treatment period as short as possible. My intention by the blessing of the Almighty Allah is to clear the virus from your bodies by the end of August.

“We have been in the programme for seven months and we learnt a lot of new things. The main purpose of the treatment is to eradicate the virus from peoples’ bodies completely. Now you have to help me to help you.  How do you help me? Obey all the rules and regulations of the treatment and you will be treated accordingly.  If you disobey the rules and regulations of the treatment, there are consequences, especially with regards to medication.  If you don’t want to take the medication, there is no need for you to be here,” he stated. 

President Jammeh added that they will not force anybody to take the medication, noting that they have learnt good lessons from the previous batch. “One thing is very clear, if you start the medication, you must continue until you are discharged. If you stop it, the consequences are yours. Our duty is to give you different type of medications for your treatment, but if you don’t want to take it, there is nothing we can do. If you want to be freed from the virus, you must take the medication. If you don’t take it, how can we get rid of the virus. I think the rules and regulations have been cleared to you, which you all signed. There are three things we will not tolerate during the treatment and I will make it very clear to all of you. One, we will not entertain quarrelling among yourselves, we will not allow the setting of different camps, that are hostile to each other during the treatment. You are all under one leader who is Ansumana Sanneh. If he gives you the instructions, you take those instructions and you don’t have to question him why. You are under treatment and you have to abide by the rules and regulations of the treatment,” he warned. 

President Jammeh further told the patients that under his treatment programme, he will not accept tribalism, segregation, religious differences, discrimination based on nationality. He said “you are all here for the treatment and you are all one. You are all Africans, you are all human beings and with the same disease, so no segregation will be allowed as it will create problems”.

He then informed the patients that some of the rules are difficult to be maintained or obeyed, but they have to learn to obey them.

The Gambian leader told the patients that “even if you are with your wife for the first month or two, you will not do sex, no alcohol, no smoking or eating of pork. All these things are not allowed during the treatment. He also warned the patients that they are forbidden from taking anything outside, be it food, drinks, medicine, fruits, among others, adding that if he detects anybody taking things outside the treatment, that particular patient will be asked to leave. He said the reason is very simple “as there are people outside who may try to give you retroviral drugs or other things to sabotage the treatment as they may have something against this treatment.”, noting that even a cup of tea will not be accepted.

President Jammeh further stated that visitors will not be allowed during the course of the treatment. “If you are found with the visitor, you will go home with him. They can send even your relatives because they have something against my treatment and if they give you anything, if you take it and later die, they will say it is the President’s medicines that killed him or her. Even your wife or husband is not allowed to visit you or bring you anything. You will not also go to your homes for the first one month and you will not visit your family members. The white people can do anything to sabotage the treatment,” he stated.

President Jammeh added that patients are not allowed to bring in their children who are not part of the treatment process.

For his part, Secretary of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Tamsir Mbowe, said “we are delighted to be gathered here once again to witness the start of yet another batch of patients- the fourth-infected and affected with the formidable HIV/AIDS virus.

This batch is a special batch, for it is the first time since President Jammeh started treating and curing patients infected and affected by HIV/AIDS that include foreign nationals.

“It is a great pleasure, happiness and joy to inform you that, based on the laboratory results obtained from three different institutions: The Gambia, Senegal and Morocco, that our leader President Jammeh has already been vindicated and he stands out in the medical history books as the first medical practitioner (Doctor) to come up with herbs that have the potency to treat and cure patients infected and affected by HIV/Aids virus”.
According to him, it is part of the President’s family medical tradition. As a result, he said, the knowledge has to be passed down from generation to generation and then noted that the time has come for him to pass the knowledge to a member of his family.

Dr Mbowe further revealed that Doctor Ansumana Jammeh, a nephew to President Jammeh, is now the traditional medical doctor and Head of the Presidential Medical Team.
“Let me remind you that the President is still the Chief Consultant of the program and will be consulted whenever necessary,” he pointed out. 

One of the foreign patients said when she was first diagnosed with the disease, she felt very sad and discouraged in life, as scientists believed that there is no cure for the disease. She said: “One day I was watching the television in Rabat, Morocco, when I saw President Jammeh treating people with HIV/AIDs and I said I must come to The Gambia for the treatment. I then informed my husband so that both of us can come for the treatment but he refused. I then paid for my ticket to The Gambia, via Dakar, where I did another test to check my status. I was again told that I am positive, but doctors in Dakar told me that they can cure me. I insisted that I am going to The Gambia for President Jammeh’s treatment. I was discouraged by them, but I told them that I am going to The Gambia. This is why I am here. However, since I started the treatment, my condition has changed. I will call on all and sundry to come for the treatment”.

Meanwhile, 19 patients of the third batch are continuing the treatment in Kanilai.