Traditional healers worried over licensing of unqualified persons

Dec - 19 - 2014 , 02:07

The Ghana National Association of Traditional Healers (GNATH) has expressed worry about the situation where unqualified people are licensed to practise traditional medicine.It said the development had made it easy for quacks to infiltrate both the practice and the association.

The association also expressed concern over the failure of health authorities to involve the association in the fight against diseases.

The Greater Accra Regional Chairman of the Association, Mr Oscar Asamoah Donkor, expressed the association’s concerns at its end-of-year meeting in Accra.

He said the government’s failure to support traditional medicine practitioners and the association made them feel rejected.

Challenges

Mr Donkor mentioned lack of funding and the infiltration of quacks into traditional medicine practice as the major challenges confronting the association.

He stated that the lack of funding was making it difficult for members to register their drugs.

Mr Donkor said the quacks also sold inferior products to the unsuspecting public; a development that was tarnishing the image of traditional medicine practitioners and the association at large.

Way forward

Mr Donkor said although a section of the public patronised herbal medicine, its unregulated nature made it difficult for the larger public to use traditional medicine.