By Samuel Ackon
Abura Dunkwa (C/R), Aug. 14, GNA – The Traditional Medicine Practice Council (TMPC) has organised a continuous professional development training for 130 practitioners of traditional medicine, in the Abura-Asebu-Kwamankese District of the Central Region to enhance production.
The training was done in collaboration with the Sankofa Traditional Herbal Medicine Practitioners Association of Ghana (STHMPAG).
In a speech read on his behalf, Dr Yakubu Yusuf Tobor, the Acting Registrar of TMPC said the training was to enhance their skills in herbal production and certification to enable them to continue practicing.
He said the training was mandatory for every traditional medicine practitioner to go through to renew their licence to practice and provide quality health care to Ghanaians.
The resource persons include officers from Food and Drugs Authority, School of Pharmacy and Department of Pharmacology and Herbal Medicine at the University of Cape Coast.
He said the training was imperative because some Ghanaians use traditional medicine as their first point of call in primary care, particularly in the rural areas where every village or hamlet had a traditional resource for healthcare within easy access.
Dr Tobor advised users of traditional medicine clinics to check out for TMPC certified practitioners, adding that they patronised uncertified ones at their own peril.
Dr Abubakari Acquah, the Chief Executive Officer of STHMPAG, said about 70 per cent of the Ghanaian population relied on medical plants and traditional medicine for their healthcare needs.
He said that testified to the deep roots of traditional medicine in the culture and identity of the people, adding that system should be protected and where changes to practices were warranted, scientific validation should be the only benchmark.
Dr Acquah noted that it would be dangerous to regulate indigenous medical knowledge to the background and lose out to a knowledge or system that was totally unscientific.
GNA
Edited by Alice Tettey/ Christabel Addo