NUL lecturer develops wound medicine

An organic chemistry lecturer at the National University of Lesotho (NUL) has developed a medicine which he says is capable of safely accelerating the healing of wounds.

Dr Ntlama Lesotho says he first conceived this idea while studying at Wits University in South Africa but was unable to complete it due to a lack of chemicals and equipment.

However, he was finally able to develop and test it successfully upon joining the NUL.

Dr Lesotho says he developed this medicine alongside Professor Maya Makatine from the University of Witwatersrand.

“This medicine is applied on a bandage, which is then wrapped around the wound. The wound heals significantly faster compared to when the medicine is not used.

“Also, during the testing, the medicine demonstrated a healing speed comparable to similar products available on the market,” he noted.

He added that certain wounds require time to heal, while others may never fully recover. He attributes this to various factors, with diabetes being common underlying cause.

Other issues, such as bedsores or improper wound positioning, can also hinder the healing process.

Dr Lesotho said he developed his medicine to address and resolve all these types of challenges effectively.

“The real problem comes when a human body, for whatever reason, is not able to produce enough collagen for the cells to bind to. In this case the wound will not heal because the cells would not produce collagen. But I can assure Basotho that this medicine is closer to perfection.”

To certify that the medicine is indeed effective, Dr Lesotho says they tested this product using three rats that had the same wounds.

“The wound of the first rat was left untreated. We then applied collagen to the wound of the second rat. Finally, we applied the commercial material on the wound of the third rat. We found that the wounds in the rats dressed with the collagen and the commercial material healed much faster compared to the wound of the untreated rat, hence we assure people that this medicine means no harm,” he explained.

He further emphasized that the primary objective behind the product is to provide assistance and renewed hope to individuals who may have given up on the possibility of recovery and healing.

Dr Lesotho said he is still working on building large quantities of his product before he puts the medicine on the market.