The issue of over 500,000 unlicensed herbalists

By Prof. Raphael Nyarkotey OBU

I read the afore-mentioned subject, that has its roots in the Daily Graphic publication, that over 521,000 traditional and alternative medical practitioners operating in the country are unregistered and unlicensed.

The paper quoted the Traditional Medicine Practice Council (TMPC) as saying that the figure includes about 321,000 unregistered or unlicensed traditional medicine practitioners and over 200,000 complementary alternative medical practitioners.

With the work I have done on the regulatory framework of traditional and alternative medicine in the African jurisdiction, I have yet to see one particular country where the number of alternative practitioners is almost the same as traditional indigenous healers.

My opinion

When I saw the headlines on Daily Graphic, I knew naysayers had the opportunity to demean traditional and alternative medicine in Ghana as they had expected this for a long time. Hence, I wasn’t surprised when some media personalities attributed these numbers to the recent liver and kidney damage in the country without empirical evidence.

Besides, what do you expect if a regulator, who is supposed to regulate the industry, is now complaining that a huge number of the practitioners are unlicensed is alarming. It will interest everyone to know that the said nominated registrar took office in less than one month. So the question is how did he get the data for this publication?

I herein present my observations:

The registrar, in one of our meetings, informed us that when he assumed office, he was told that the total number of practitioners in the database is 75,000. So the question a reasonable man will ask is that; if you have 75,000 in your database as total registered practitioners, how did you extrapolate over 500,000 unlicensed practitioners from 75,000?

So to say that over 500,000 are unlicensed, I expect that these numbers were all in the systems. This notwithstanding, if they claimed they researched to ascertain this, how did you collect such huge data within three weeks in the office with your research team? How much did you spend on this research project in all the districts in the country within 3 weeks? And with how many field personnel?

I called the Public Relations Officer of the TMPC to make the data, which they now claim was research they did within the three weeks, available for scrutiny. I am yet to receive any feedback.

So the question is, what is the motive to publish this in an industry that is developing and has contributed to the economy of the country? The herbal industry has been the backbone of most media houses’ financial fortunes.

Even if that is the case, what prevents the registrar and the council from helping to regulate and license these numbers instead of this publication in the national daily? How can the regulator fight the people it intends to regulate? Doesn’t this depict the purpose of the Traditional Medicine Practice Act 575? Probably, they need to look at the long title of the Act and get the right understanding.

I am happy the Editorial of the Chronicle asked an important question:

“Regrettably, despite the existence of this Act, the Traditional Medicine Practice Council, which is to enforce the law, is now telling Ghanaians that the majority of the herbal preparations on our market are not registered. This is a serious matter, but Dr. Michael Kyeremateng – in the interview he granted to Daily Graphic – did not state the steps his outfit had taken to ensure sanity in the industry.”

Does this question mean the council does not know its mandates?

The Chronicle further said that the publication by the TMPC is a serious national security issue that must not be toyed with. It is possible that thousands of Ghanaians are dying after they have taken these herbal preparations that have not been registered by any regulatory body.

I disagree with the Chronicle from where I sit as the General Secretary of The Ghana Alternative Medical Practitioners Association (GAMPA). I rather call on the government  – with immediate effect – to constitute a committee to look into the activities of the council and how best to address these issues.

I will further call on all political parties without any specific policy on Traditional and Alternative Medicines to reconsider this in their manifestos and make it a priority.

Alternative medicine

The said publication also included alternative medicine practices such as naturopathy, homeopathy, Chiropathy and the rest. It will interest the public to know that there is no legislative framework or law regulating alternative practices in Ghana.

Alternative practices are different from traditional medicines. The scope of Act 575 has no locus standi on alternative medicines. The then Attorney-General’s position on this matter was made clear in a letter dated 19th November, 2010, with Reference No: L 15/2006 with the title: Approval for Regulation of Alternative Health Practices in Ghana. The content of the letter states:

“Please refer to your letter No. MOH/TMPC/VRM/01/10 dated 19th October, 2010 on the above subject matter addressed to the Chairman of the Traditional Medicine Practice Council and copied to this office. I am directed to inform you that the Traditional Medicine Practice Act 2000 (Act 575) does not regulate the practice of alternative medicine. As a result of this defect, Cabinet gave approval on the 3rd of June, 2010, for a new Bill on traditional and alternative medicine practice to be laid in Parliament.

“The new Bill, which is Traditional and Alternative Medicine Bill, provides for the establishment of a Traditional and Alternative Medicine Council to promote, control and regulate the practice and practitioners of Traditional and Alternative Medicine. The passage of the Bill by Parliament will create a regulatory structure for non-orthodox healthcare practice in Ghana, including alternative medicine.”

The Attorney-General’s position was clear on this matter since 2010 when the issue of CAM regulation came up for discussion. For more on this, see Commentary on Legislative Regulation of Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Ghana: The Journey so Far, published in IP Journal of Nutrition, Metabolism and Health Science by Raphael Nyarkotey Obu and Lawrencia Aggrey-Bluwey.

This gap in Act 575 was further cemented in the memorandum on the Traditional and Alternative Medicine bill (2018). I provide an excerpt from the memorandum herein: “The purpose of the Bill is to set up a Traditional and Alternative Medicine Council as a corporate body to regulate the practice of traditional and alternative medicine.

In 2000, Parliament enacted a Traditional Medicine Practice Act (Act 575). The purpose of the Act was to set up a council to regulate the practice of traditional medicine. The scope of the mandate of the Traditional Medicine Council as stated in that law is, however, not clear as to who is a traditional medicine practitioner.

There are several operators, such as itinerant herbal practitioners with or without fixed addresses as well as others who operate in identifiable premises, all practising, diagnosing and healing in this field.

Without a clear definition as to who is a practitioner, it is difficult to regulate these operators. This bill, therefore, seeks to revise the legislation to regulate traditional medicine practice as well as the use of food supplements.

Alternative medicine refers to any form of medicine that is outside the mainstream of allopathic and traditional medicines, and involves the management or treatment of diseases in cooperation with natural forces and the defensive mechanisms of the body. Currently, alternative medicine practice is not regulated. Examples of alternative medicine are Acupuncture, Naturopathy, Homeopathy, and Chiropractic”.

Conclusion

So the memorandum explaining why the need for this new Bill tells you the lacunae in the existing law and why it is difficult to regulate them without a clear legal definition. I was, instead, expecting the new registrar to champion the passage of this new bill to give the council the legal capacity to now provide an effective regulatory regime on traditional and alternative medicine; but the council rather chose to start a public war with the associations.

However, this is not too late. The general public and the media should call on the government to take immediate steps to review the existing bill and pass the Traditional and Alternative Medicine Bill to help provide legal capacity.

>>>the writer is a Professor of Naturopathy and General Secretary of the Ghana Alternative Medical Practitioners Association (GAMPA)

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