Traditional Medicine Practice Council (TMPC) has revealed that over 521,000 traditional and alternative medical practitioners operating in Ghana are unregistered and unlicensed.
The figure includes about 321,000 unregistered or unlicenced traditional medicine practitioners and over 200,000 complementary alternative medical practitioners.
The practitioners and institutions who are operating illegally constitute more than 80% of the local traditional and alternative medicine industry.
The industry comprises health shops that trade in traditional and alternative medicines, spas, wellness centres such as gyms, massage parlours, healing camps, psychic healers, herbalists, medical herbalists, training institutes, homoeopathic clinics, chiropractic clinics, acupuncture clinics and centres, Ayurvedic clinics, naturopathic clinics organic shops etc as regulated by section 38 of Act 575 of the Traditional Medicine Practice Act 2000 as per ministerial policy and administrative guidelines in the regulations of complementary/alternative medicine in 2010.
The Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of the TMPC, Dr Michael Kyeremateng, indicated to the Daily Graphic in an exclusive interview in Accra last Friday that out of about 95,000 traditional and alternative medicine practitioners and institutions captured in the council’s database, just about 15 to 20 per cent of them were registered, licensed and in good standing to operate in the country.
The council emerged from the Traditional Medicine Practice Act, of 2000 (Act 575) to regulate the practice of traditional medicine, to register practitioners and license practices, to regulate the preparation and sale of herbal medicines and to provide for related matters.
It was set up in 2010, the year the Act became operational.
Section 9(1) of Act 575 states that: “A person shall not operate or own premises as a practitioner or produce herbal medicine for sale unless that person is registered by this Act”.
The council has since been the sole regulator of traditional and alternative medical practice in the country.
Its jurisdiction stretches across naturopathy, a system of alternative medicine based on the theory that diseases can be successfully treated or prevented without the use of drugs; homoeopathy, a medical system based on the belief that the body can cure itself; cardiopathy, which involves diagnosing and treating musculoskeletal issues through spinal adjustments; acupuncture, a traditional Chinese medical practice most commonly used to treat pain; psychic healers; traditional birth attendants, among others.
Dr Kyeremateng said the alarming rate at which unauthorised practitioners flooded the airwaves in particular to advertise their institutions and products was even more concerning.
“Currently, in Ghana, we know that we have over 60 to 70 per cent of our population accessing traditional and alternative medical centres for primary health care. Issues escalate before they move on to any other allopathic centres for emergencies.
You realise that the life of the average Ghanaian is at risk because of so many mushroom clinics and hospitals, and practitioners occupying our airwaves without the requisite licence and certification,” he said.
