Implement Traditional Medicine Practice Act-Quarm (Page 44)

Story: Lucy Adoma Yeboah (January 28, 2008)
A FORMER head of the Traditional Medicine Directorate of the Ministry of Health (MoH), Osofo Kwasi Dankwa Quarm, has called on the government and the MoH, to implement the Traditional Medicine Practice Act 575 of 2000, for efficient and safe traditional medicine practice in the country.
Osofo Quarm, who is currently the Executive Secretary of the Ghana Ethno-Medical Foundation, said it was high time the Act, which received Presidential assent on February 23, 2000, was implemented to serve its intended purpose.
The Ghana Ethno-Medical Foundation is a multi-sectoral agency comprising scientists, researchers, traditional medical practitioners, plant collectors and sellers and forest sector agencies.
It has the objective of ensuring growth and development in the herbal/ traditional medicine practice in Ghana.
The foundation also seeks to ensure that patients receive the best of services, practitioners and manufacturers give their best services and products are duly investigated and proven by scientists and researchers before use.
Osofo Quarm told the Daily Graphic in Accra that the Traditional Medicine Practice Act 575 was supposed to establish a Council “to regulate the practice of traditional medicine, to register practitioners and license practices and to regulate the preparation and sale of herbal medicines and to provide for related matters”.
In a statement issued on behalf of the Foundation, the Executive Secretary said it was unfortunate that such an important law should be shelved for such a long time, adding that about 70 per cent of Ghanaians depended on traditional medicine.
He stressed that since many people, especially the rural dwellers, relied on traditional medicine, it was important that the right steps were taken to protect them from quacks.
He said the vision of the foundation was to have traditional medicine practice as a formidable and credible force in medical care that effectively complemented orthodox and other forms of therapies in Ghana for provision of quality and affordable health care for all Ghanaians.
Osofo Quarm hinted that members of the foundation would continue with their advocate until the law was implemented.
"The Foundation demands that all stakeholders should act to boost the trust and confidence of the public in traditional medicine to ensure the existence of a viable industry with safe, effective and affordable products and services," he stressed.
In a related development, the Ghana Federation of Traditional Medicine Practitioners Association (GHAFTRAM) pledged to co-operate with the MoH and make sure that its members were registered by the Traditional Medicine Practice Secretariat in accordance with the Traditional Medicine Practice Act (Act 575).
In a New Year message, the President of GHAFTRAM, Agya Kwaku Appiah, commended the Minister of Health, Major Courage Quashigah (retd), on behalf of the federation, for showing immense interest in the promotion of traditional medicine and its practice.
He cited an instance last year when the minister facilitated the travel of the General Secretary of the federation to China on a three-month tour to learn about traditional medicine in that country.
Agya Appiah, however, observed that there were some challenges that the federation needed to surmount. These included the registration of more members for the purposes of identification and the payment of retention fees by members.