Traditional medicine institute recommends plant extracts for Covid treatment

The Institute of Traditional Medicine is encouraging people to grow heartleaf (phak khao thong), Andrographis paniculata (la xa bee), and fingerroot (ka xai).
These are the plants that produce the extracts needed by the institute to make capsules for use in the treatment of Covid-19, and which the institute has successfully trialled.
Director General of the Institute of Traditional Medicine, Dr Bounleuane Douangdeuan, said the institute first treated 450 people in three southern provinces with plant extracts in the form of capsules last September.

The pills were then endorsed by the Ministry of Health last month.
The plant extracts were trialled in four groups of people in the early stages of illness. The first group was given capsules containing phak khao thong, the second group was given la xa bee, the third group received ka xai, and the fourth group was not given any kind of plant extract.
Use of the capsules eases unvaccinated patients’ symptoms within 3-5 days, by which time they feel well and have recovered their sense of taste, which is often a symptom of Covid-19.
The capsules are now available to the general public and can be obtained at the institute and some private companies.
The government has been overseeing the development of plant remedies since 1967, based on President Kaysone Phomvihane’s knowledge of and interest in medicinal plants as well as his broader knowledge of modern medicine.
Andrographis paniculata (la xa bee) can be taken for 5-7 days to reduce fever and ease sore throats, coughs and other symptoms of Covid-19. Heartleaf (phak khao thong) can help boost the body’s immune system and fight the virus.
Fingerroot (ka xai) helps to slow the development of Covid-19. Patients are advised to take six capsules each day for five days, have two days without the capsules, and then continue treatment with the capsules.

By Times Reporters
 (Latest Update February 4, 2022)