The third batch of 201 patients suffering from hypertension last evening lined-up at Kanilai to receive President Yahya Jammeh’s hypertension treatment. The patients included different people from different works of life, both young and old.

Before starting the treatment, the Gambian leader looked at the Quran and told patients some of the diseases and pains they were suffering from, to which the patients answered in the positive. Additionally, before giving the medication to the patients, President Jammeh first drank the herbal medicine.

During the treatment, President Jammeh warned the patients that they would experience some headache, describing it as normal as their blood pressures will come down. He further advised the patients not to consume oil, jumbo, and mayonnaise. He also advised them not to drink ataya, coffee, soft drinks, alcohol, or chew cola nut, pork meat, until after mid-day today, Friday, September 7th, 2007.

He advised the change of diets describing improper diet as a cause of the rampant occurrence of the hypertension disease. “Let us change our diets. We need to go for traditional food. We should be very careful of foods imported into the country because we do not know their content. Before, we did not have hypertension.

So, why are we having it now? This is because we are not taking the traditional foods that we are used to, as everybody wants western food. So we need to be careful with western food. I am not saying that we should not eat western food, but we need to reduce it. I will continue treating people but we need to take care of our diets,” he advised.

For his part, Dr Tamsir Mbowe, Secretary of State for Health and Social Welfare, revealed that, hypertension is of two types which are primary and secondary hypertension.

He said 90% of the people suffering from hypertension are under the primary hypertension type. He added that, President Jammeh’s hypertension cure is effective leading to the positive turn-out. “We have an increase of patients from 55 to 201 people,” he said.

Dr Mbowe added that the blood pressures of the patients were first taken before they took the medication and also after the treatment. He then highlighted that after taking the medication, there was a significant drop in the patients’ blood pressure, which shows that they are responding positively to the treatment.

According to the Health Secretary of State, hypertension is a disease that is curable. He thus condemned the critics who maintain that it is incurable.

“Those who are saying that hypertension is incurable are not saying the truth. Those criticising President Jammeh’s hypertension treatment do not know what hypertension is in fact,” Dr Mbowe emphasised.

He then expressed happiness and satisfaction with the blood pressures of the patients after the treatment noting that 99% of the patients responded positively after the treatment with a significant drop of their blood pressure.

Speaking at the gathering on behalf of the patients, Aji Mbengeh Joof-Gomez, one of the patients said they were very happy with President Jammeh’s treatment.

“He has just treated people suffering from HIV/Aids, asthma, diabetes and now hypertension. This shows that President Jammeh has great concern for humanity. He has helped Gambians in all aspects of social life such as paying school fees for students, construction of hospitals and good roads as well as bringing education to the doorsteps of all Gambians,” she noted.

According to her, everybody in the world now knows about The Gambia because of President Jammeh’s cure for HIV/Aids, asthma, diabetes and now hypertension.

“So President Jammeh’s efforts in restoring the health conditions of the people are another giant move and we pray that God the Almighty reward him”, she concluded.

Kebba Touray, former National Assembly Member for Illiasa Constituency said since President Jammeh came to power in 1994, The Gambia has experienced several significant developments. He added that President Jammeh is not here to enrich himself but to serve the best interest of humanity.

“If you wanted to be a millionaire, you would have been, but you are not interested in enriching yourself, but rather in salvaging the people of this country. You made everybody equal, both Gambians and non-Gambians.

Your great work is seen by all and sundry. You should be awarded the Man of the World for this year, 2007, because you have sympathy for the people and are taking good care of both Gambians and non-Gambians”, he noted.

According to the former Illiasa NAM, if President Jammeh had not come to power, the Gambia would have sunk. He added that President Jammeh’s coming to power means a lot to all Gambians, non-Gambians and the rest of humanity.

“For The Gambia, you have provided accessible education, enough health facilities, and improved agriculture for sustainable development, amongst others”, he said.

He then commended the Gambian leader for his exemplary leadership quality and prayed for him to succeed in all his endeavours.