When William Njuguna sat by his mother’s bedside as she died from cancer, he promised her one last thing: he would ‘protect’ cancer patients from chemotherapy.
That was a lofty promise to make in early 2000s. Chemotherapy was and is still considered the dogma in cancer treatment.
It uses strong drugs to kill cancer cells or to stop them from growing and spreading.
Still, Njuguna thought he could spare more patients the severe side-effects his mother suffered – the nausea, fatigue, and damage to the nerves in the hands and feet. And sometimes death.
“I have kept that promise,” he says. But it has come at a cost to his reputation.
Njuguna later founded the Integrative Medicine Society of Kenya. It pushes for the integration of alternative and traditional practices, such as herbal medicine, acupuncture and Ayurveda, as part of mainstream treatment protocols in Kenya.
Njuguna says some 28 medical doctors are members of IMSK.
His best-known campaign is for the legalisation of bhang extracts for cancer treatment. Cancer is mostly treated through chemotherapy, surgery and radiation.
“Besides these, we have 10 other protocols, which we call integrative cancer protocols that really work well,” he says.
“In terms of pain management, conventionally we use morphine (drug extracted from opium). If you test morphine, for example, it's 100 per cent cocaine. So, it has a lot of side effects for most cancer patients. We advocate for people to use medical cannabis because it has no such side effects. Medical cannabis helps fight some tumours without even having to subject the patient to chemotherapy.”
The cannabis extract is known as Cannabidiol oil or CBD oil. It does not produce the euphoric “high” people get when they use bhang. But there is limited evidence from human studies to support the benefits of CBD oil due to restrictions on the use of and research on cannabis.
IMSK also advocates hyperthermia for cancer treatment. This a type of treatment where the body tissue is heated to as high as 45° degrees Celcius to damage and kill cancer cells with little or no harm to normal tissue.
The Kenya Society of Hematology and Oncology scoffs at such therapies because they are not licensed in Kenya.
They also question the credentials of Njuguna, who says he is an “integrative oncologist”, having trained in the United States.
The World Health Organization recognises integrative medicine. However, it says integrative physicians do not replace your primary care provider or specialist.
In 2022, the WHO established a Global Centre for Traditional Medicine in India. Dr Festus Tolo, the deputy director in charge of the Centre for Traditional Medicines and Drugs Research at Kemri, was part of the Kenyan delegation to the ceremony.
“The WHO groundbreaking ceremony on Tuesday, April 19, 2022, was very significant as it affirmed the seriousness with which WHO is placing on herbal medicines,” Dr Tolo, said at that time.
“This is the very first time that herbal medicine gets this kind of attention by WHO and this can only be significant and exciting to all practitioners.”
But integrative medicine is not recognised by the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council and the Kenya Health Professions Oversight Authority.
“We have made applications to these bodies because we want their oversight, but this has not happened,” Njuguna says.
Tony Kisaka, a business consultant who is the IMSK treasurer, says recognition will also make it cheaper for patients.
“Patients seeking these innovative or integrative protocols pay cash. It is good for the government to incorporate integrative medicine especially now when we are launching the new health insurance fund, “ he says.
The team says it has invited Ministry of Health officials and other experts to their international congress next week, that will seek to promote integrative medicine in Kenya.
The congress takes place June 26 -28 in Nairobi.