The HIV/AIDS treatment of President Alhaji Dr Yahya Jammeh has again recorded a great success, with another batch of patients released on Sunday in Kanilai.

The patients released were Lenson Issile a Malawian national, Sonna Sonko, Ebrima Gassama and Amie Badjie. They were among the 3rd and 4th batch of the treatment programme.

Formally releasing the patients at a well attended ceremony in Kanilai, President Yahya Jammeh thanked Allah who made the day possible as well as the people of the Gambia and the entire treatment team.

He then announced the release saying “these four people are now free from the HIV virus. As from now, you are  discharged from my treatment programme and you can go home”.

The Gambian leader then confirmed that his treatment was true and 100 per cent certain, that he can cure HIV/AIDS, but he was quick to say that the availability of the cure did not mean that young people should be careless of their sexual behaviour. “The treatment is not an immunization against HI/AIDs. If you have no virus it does not mean that you cannot be re-infected. Put it at the back of your minds that the world is three days - yesterday what you went through and get the virus, today you are free from the virus and tomorrow lies entirely in your hands. If you did not protect yourselves and you are re-infected, I would not treat you because thousands are on the line to have first opportunity for the treatment”, he said.

On the disease, President Jammeh said no one could understand it completely, but quickly confirmed his gift in the treatment, saying, “I can raise my hands and say that no professor in the world today has more knowledge of AIDs than me. If they dispute it, let anyone of them cure the virus. I am different from them for the fact that I know the symptoms and I can identify the virus by looking at the individual. But this again, does not mean that I know everything about AIDs because something new comes up everyday” he said.

New piles cure discovery

President Jammeh then announced that in addition to the several already existing treatments, he would now start the treatment of pile and that it would take only one week to get it out of the patient’s body. He then announced that the period for the treatment of HIV 2 patients have now been reduced to 2 weeks instead of two to three months to allow others to have a first chance.

He then wished the discharged patients and the patients undergoing the treatment all the best, assuring them that they would also be released one day. He also hailed Lenson Issile, a foreigner-patient from Malawi, for been very unique and the first foreigner to have joined the treatment and complete it. He said Lenson had integrated and had no problem, and was a peace maker. Then the President engaged Lenson in various Gambian language tests in which Lenson did well, to the delight of the crowd.

Then Daily Observer’s East African MD interviewed Lenson in his local Swahili - and some Gambian soldiers pipped in with their own Swahili words too!

For his part, Dr Tamsir Mbowe, director of the Presidential treatment Programme and director of Health Services  described the  day as yet another milestone in the history of The Gambia. According to him, over the past 25 to 30 years, the genetical code, morphological structure and mode of survival of the virus have given researchers, scientist, and medical practitioners, endless nights but noted that, the longest night has now come to an end.

He added that based on modern scientific methods, President Jammeh’s medical herbs have proven to have the potency to eliminate the HIV/AIDS virus from the human system and treat and cure patients infected with the virus. He then observed that this remarkable success registered in today's medical world, had already been noted in the medical history books, and that generations to come would commend President Jammeh for that.

“Your belief in the Islamic faith, determination, love for humanity and your God-gifted talents and knowledge have made it possible for you to be the first medical practitioner to have overcome the formidable HIV/AIDS virus”, he said.

He then reminded Gambians of the famous phrase by one gynaecology lecturer who said ‘the beauty of medicine is the restoration of the sick to health’. He added that medicine, be it in any form, kind or type, its primary aim was to treat and cure the sick. “To be a good medical practitioner does not depend on the number of years you spend in a learning institution or the name of the institution you attended, or the number of certificates you received, but it depends on the medical knowledge you have acquired and your capability and ability to restore the sick to health” he said.

Dr Mbowe then stated that life itself was not eternal and that no medical procedure can make life to be eternal, noting that medical procedures, herbs and other medicinal products, were here to relief psychological and pathological problems and to prolong life. He then extolled President Jammeh’s contribution to present day medicine,  which he said had not only proven the powers of traditional, indigenous medicine and knowledge, but had helped to save thousands of lives as it would millions in the future.

He, on behalf of the Presidential Medical Team, the patients undergoing and those that have undergone the treatment programme and the entire medical family as well as the Department of State for Health and Social Welfare, saluted President Jammeh for the breakthrough.

He further wished the discharged patients all the best and implored the patients undergoing the treatment to keep to the rules and regulations of the treatment program.

Other Speakers included Tarku Gibba, Ebrima Gassama and Fatou Sanyang, who all saluted President Jammeh for the treatment and further confirmed the reality of the treatment. They disclosed their status before the treatment and the numerous changes after the treatment. They also lauded the free treatment, saying, “If it was in another country, people would have paid before been treated, but President Jammeh’s treatment is free”.To them, the herbal medicine is completely different from the Western medicine. They called on Gambians to support President Jammeh in his endeavours.

Dr Mariatou Jallow, Chief Medical Director, RVTH, who chaired the ceremony, called on all to go for voluntary counselling and testing to ascertain their status and enable the rapid eradication of the virus. According to her, President Jammeh is fully committed to the fight against the disease , saying, “why not all of us. Lets participate effectively by going for voluntary counselling and testing”. She then urged families of the patients to receive the patients and expressed hope that they would not be discriminated or stigmatised.

Present at the occasion where, Vice President Njie-Saidy, Speaker Fatoumatta Jahumpa Ceesay, secretaries of state, Paramount Chief Ahagie Demba Sanyang, Hon. Abba Sanyang, NAM for Foni Kansala, managing directors, security chiefs, members of the president’s medical team and cultural troops.

At the end of the ceremony, the Serrekunda Central Red Cross link presented a drama performance before the Gambian leader, entitled: ‘Jammeh got the HIV/AIDS cure’.

Similarly, the Saint Anthony Basic Cycle School also sang before President Jammeh a song entitled ‘we are proud of you’.