08 Sep 2022

Some traditional health practitioners have called for the integration of traditional medicine into modern health service system.

They urged government to collaborate with them to enable the sharing of medical knowledge and provision of quality services to the society.

Speaking during the Traditional Medicine Day commemoration in Maun on Wednesday, they argued that traditional medicine remained a critical component of the healthcare delivery system, hence they should work as a team.

They said they were currently working in silos, yet they were servicing the same clientele.

Traditional practitioners called on the Ngami District Health Management Team to consider allocating them a space at Letsholathebe Hospital to facilitate the collaboration and to ease access by members of the public.

“We are all health professionals, we have been trained just like modern health practitioners and we are all driving the same mandate of ensuring the highest quality of care to the public,’ said Mr Motsholathebe Rabakoko, a traditional healer from Dingaka tsa Setso Association.

He, however, appreciated that the government recognised their practices as some of them had created a rapport with some public health facilities to refer patients to access services they could not provide.

Mr Rabakoko said enhancing collaboration with modern health practitioners would enable the two parties to share ideas and promote utilisation of traditional medicines in an appropriate manner.

He said it would also make it easier for government personnel to refer patients to them without fear of jeopardising the patients’ health.

He acknowledged that currently, modern practitioners could not refer patients to them because they lacked resources, as most traditional healers operated from home.

Mr Rabakoko also said they could not admit patients because they did not have the requisite equipment and resources.

Another traditional healer, Mr Omogolo Radiakgwa concurred that collaboration could improve the overall healthcare system.

Working under one roof, he said, could also help them to secure access to state resources and support, as well as ensure collaboration with researchers to further develop traditional medicine.

“We are willing to work with modern practitioners because we believe that we can share ideas and indigenous knowledge. We understand that modern doctors use science based evidence to treat patients and they can help us to take our plants for scientific evaluation and validation,” he added.

Letsholathebe Hospital matron, Ms Keoagetse Kgwabi said government recognised the role played by traditional health practitioners in the healthcare system and urged them to come forth and work closely with their modern counterparts.

She also advised them to share their knowledge with modern practitioners as well as bring their herbs for testing to establish the contents and ensure they were safe for human consumption.

Ms Kgwabi said traditional medicine had been a trusted, acceptable, affordable and accessible source of healthcare for African populations for centuries, adding that today 80 per cent of the continent’s population relied on traditional medicine for basic health needs.

She said since African Traditional Medicine Day was initiated in 2003, the continent had seen the implementation of World Health Organisation regional strategies on promoting and enhancing the role of traditional medicine in health systems as well as plans of action for the first and second decades of African Traditional Medicine.

Ms Kgwabi noted that member states had used the day to facilitate discussion around national policies on traditional medicine, cultivation of medicinal plants as well as training of traditional health practitioners and aiding collaboration with their conventional counterparts. ENDS