Desist from calling yourselves doctors; Traditional medicine practitioners advised

Traditional medicine practitioners have been advised to desist from calling themselves doctors or risk arrest.

“You can easily be arrested for calling yourself a doctor when you do not have the qualification,” Mr Martin Azaglo, the Head of the Inspection, Monitoring and Enforcement Unit of the Traditional Medicine Practitioners Council (TMPC), said

According to him, it was unlawful for them to hold themselves out as trained medical practitioners when they had not received medical training.

Mr Azaglo was speaking at the 16th Traditional Medicine Week in Cape Coast in the Central Region last Tuesday.

The occasion was used to commemorate the 13th African Traditional Medicine Day which falls on August 31 annually.

It was on the theme: “Regulating traditional health practitioners in the African region.”

 “You can call yourselves native doctors or traditional doctors or whatever names you are comfortable with, but don’t call yourselves doctors,” Mr Azaglo emphasised. 

 Revelations

He said inspection and monitoring from his outfit had revealed that sometimes traditional medicine practitioners used stethoscopes and offered injections to their patients, while others stored their medicines in washrooms.

 While the government and the TMPC acknowledged the immense role traditional medicine practitioners played in the health sector, it was important that their activities were well regulated to ensure safety of patients, he stated.

“Human lives are important and cannot be replaced and so we have to be sure about what you are giving patients,” he said.

 Professionalism

Mr Azaglo entreated the practitioners to register with the council and pass a professional qualifying examination to qualify them to practise.

He said they should also license their premises and regularly upgrade their knowledge.

He also advised the practitioners to refer cases beyond their competence to hospitals for attention.

 Food and Drugs Authority

Mr Emmanuel Yaw Kwarteng of the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) explained that the mandate of the authority included ensuring that practitioners abided by the standards set on quality, safety and efficacy of traditional medicines.

He, therefore, advised traditional medicine practitioners to work hard to improve on the quality of their products to support healthcare delivery in the country.