Traditional medicine ignored â€"â€" medics
Apr 11, 2006
TRADITIONAL medicine (TM) will have to wait a little longer before the government fully integrates it in the country’s health care system. This is in spite of the 1999 National Health Policy that recognised the role of TM as central to a functional healthcare system.
By Timothy Makokha
TRADITIONAL medicine (TM) will have to wait a little longer before the government fully integrates it in the country’s health care system. This is in spite of the 1999 National Health Policy that recognised the role of TM as central to a functional healthcare system.
Participants in a Consultative Meeting on the National Policy for Traditional and Complementary Medicine in Hotel Equatoria in Kampala recently, heard that close to 10 years since efforts were made to harmonise and define the use of TM in Uganda, the Government is yet to come up with a clear policy on its practice, regulation and standardisation.
Making his submissions, Dr Keya Mugisha, a consultant pediatrician and President of Uganda Medical Association, said more should be done in defining the role of traditional medicines in Uganda.
Samson Kibende, the deputy director of Joint Clinical Research Centre, called for the creation of a department in the Ministry of Health to oversee the harmonisation and integration of the practice of traditional medicines in the country’s health care industry.
According to the World Health Organisation, over 80 percent of people in the rural Sub-Saharan Africa consult traditional healers. Dr Francis Runumi, the commissioner in charge of planning, says about 60 percent of Ugandans use TM and Hon Dr Elioda Tumwesigye says Uganda has over 157,000 traditional healers.
However, there is need to draw national policies governing the operations of traditional medicine men. according to Prof Elly Katabira, the deputy dean, Makerere Medical School.
“This way, we can be sure to protect the population from unscrupulous medicine men,†he said.
Prof Nelson Sewankambo, the dean of Makerere University Medical School called for a review of the curriculum at all levels of education.
“We should train all persons in health sector to appreciate the role traditional medicines in our society,†Sewankambo said.
Fr. Dominic Mwebe, the chairman of St. Rahel Herbal Centre and spiritual healer, decried the slow pace at which government was moving to integrate and define the parameters of the administration of traditional medicine.
“While we all agree on the central role of traditional medicine in our society, it is discouraging that up to now, we do not have a standard definition of what traditional medicine constitutes,†Mwebe said.
Ends
TRADITIONAL medicine (TM) will have to wait a little longer before the government fully integrates it in the country’s health care system. This is in spite of the 1999 National Health Policy that recognised the role of TM as central to a functional healthcare system.
Participants in a Consultative Meeting on the National Policy for Traditional and Complementary Medicine in Hotel Equatoria in Kampala recently, heard that close to 10 years since efforts were made to harmonise and define the use of TM in Uganda, the Government is yet to come up with a clear policy on its practice, regulation and standardisation.
Making his submissions, Dr Keya Mugisha, a consultant pediatrician and President of Uganda Medical Association, said more should be done in defining the role of traditional medicines in Uganda.
Samson Kibende, the deputy director of Joint Clinical Research Centre, called for the creation of a department in the Ministry of Health to oversee the harmonisation and integration of the practice of traditional medicines in the country’s health care industry.
According to the World Health Organisation, over 80 percent of people in the rural Sub-Saharan Africa consult traditional healers. Dr Francis Runumi, the commissioner in charge of planning, says about 60 percent of Ugandans use TM and Hon Dr Elioda Tumwesigye says Uganda has over 157,000 traditional healers.
However, there is need to draw national policies governing the operations of traditional medicine men. according to Prof Elly Katabira, the deputy dean, Makerere Medical School.
“This way, we can be sure to protect the population from unscrupulous medicine men,†he said.
Prof Nelson Sewankambo, the dean of Makerere University Medical School called for a review of the curriculum at all levels of education.
“We should train all persons in health sector to appreciate the role traditional medicines in our society,†Sewankambo said.
Fr. Dominic Mwebe, the chairman of St. Rahel Herbal Centre and spiritual healer, decried the slow pace at which government was moving to integrate and define the parameters of the administration of traditional medicine.
“While we all agree on the central role of traditional medicine in our society, it is discouraging that up to now, we do not have a standard definition of what traditional medicine constitutes,†Mwebe said.
Ends