A Consultant Urologist at the KBTH, Dr. Bernard Toboh, has hinted, sarcastically, that he might also just leave his current job at the hospital to start selling hydrogen peroxide.
He said that with the attention on the mild antiseptic gaining grounds in the country, following indications that it can help a great deal against the coronavirus, it won’t be a bad idea for him to even consider it.
“So, the direction of hydrogen peroxide, I think we should explore it but I am very concerned about the shortage in town. Like I pointed out, people will start businesses very soon: hydrogen peroxide in various imitations and what have you will appear and this is the time that some unscrupulous people will make big, big money. So FDA will have to open its eyes seriously. Probably, I may change my job to go into the hydrogen peroxide business,” he said.
Speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile on Saturday, January 30, 2021, Dr. Toboh cautioned the Food and Drugs Authority on what he believes could be a new business area for people of all forms, including very unscrupulous ones looking to cash in on the situation.
“The shelves are empty and this is the time people are going to make money: small money or big money. People will change their businesses to go and sell hydrogen peroxide and the FDA would have to open their eyes very well,” he said.
He stressed further, the need for education to be made to the general public to be measured in the use of the antiseptic since it could have repercussions when or if used wrongly or unadvisedly.
“The education should go out there. People shouldn’t think that hydrogen peroxide is the overall panacea. We still have to adhere to the protocols. We still have to social distance and we still have to do all that but I must say, even though the body of evidence is scanty, sometimes, you don’t have to wait till you get everything, sometimes by deduction, sometimes by intuition, you may draw your conclusions, provided that the education has gone out there and people are doing it right with the right dilutions,” he explained.
There have been renewed suggestions and calls for the use of such things as hydrogen peroxide as prevention or treatment to the COVID-19 pandemic after Ghana’s case counts saw an unusual upsurge from the beginning of this year.
The Food and Drugs Authority and the Pharmacy Council of Ghana had earlier cautioned the public against fake and substandard hydrogen peroxide on the markets.
According to the two bodies, a joint monitoring exercise they undertook recently revealed a shortage of hydrogen peroxide in pharmaceutical facilities as a result of 'panic buying.'
The rise in sales of the product is linked to recent reports that it was effective in the treatment and prevention of coronavirus.
Dr. Bernard Toboh is a Consultant Urologist at Korle Bu