Dr. Bola Umoniyi, head of DFL's Pharmaceutical Dept., during an interview on CNN about Traditional Healers
Doctors For Life (South Africa) would like to re-affirm our commitment
to promoting holistic health to all the people of South Africa in a
scientifically sound and morally accountable way. Representing over one
thousand health practitioners, we stand for the practice of medicine
that is based on evidence and the highest ethics. We are of the opinion
that any form of medicine that is not based on empiric truth is
potentially (and ultimately) harmful to patients in need.
As was stated during our presentation before the parliamentary committee
on Traditional Health Practitioners (in February 1998), we are of the
opinion, based on research and many testimonies of fellow South
Africans, that:
1. Traditional medical practices have, over time, not improved the
survival of children or mothers in birth or patients;
2. Most of the medicines used by traditional practitioners have not
been validated scientifically;
3. Many people suffer because of the serious complications
(side-effects) that arise due to the use of traditional medicines;
4. As stated by the World Health Organization (WHO), most
traditional health practitioners make use of "intangible forces"
("spirits") in their practice of healing.
5. Traditional healers (at least African traditional healers) are
priests of the religious system of African Traditional Religion (ATR),
and function as such. To grant them the status of health professionals
without doing the same to office bearers of other religions would be
discriminatory against other religions.
6. Occult powers are used in most (the WHO says in all) of the
therapeutic acts of traditional healers;
7. Traditional healers make their diagnosis (and therapeutic
combinations) with the aid of "spirits" and under the control of the
"spirits";
8. Most traditional healers are "called" by the "spirits" to become
healers.
9. The licensing of traditional healers will have a negative impact
on the economy of South Africa, with regards to giving people time off
work for long periods, as often required by the "ancestral spirits".
We feel strongly that The Traditional Health Practitioners Bill is a
mechanism that: (a) cannot regulate the spirit world, (b) cannot control
the communication between "ancestral spirits" and the healers, and (c)
cannot ensure safety for the public against the detrimental affects of
traditional medicines.
It is irrational to allow the regulation of the use of medicines that
have not been scientifically validated. This does not appear
responsible, sensible or reasonable. While the Bill proposes that the
Council will make rules pertaining to traditional medicines that will
"protect the public", we fail to understand how the public will be
protected if the healers are still allowed to use medicines that have
not been validated scientifically.
While we recognise the positive intention of the Bill, we fail to see
how it will "ensure quality of health care" if traditional health
practitioners are still allowed to use medicines that are prescribed by
the "spirits" (as happens predominantly with African traditional
healers).
We consider it our medical and scientific responsibility to ask this
sober question: "How can we regulate what is not yet proven to be right
and reliable therapeutic options?!" Should we not first research what
is claimed to be remedies before we regulate it?
In the present format of the Bill we also cannot see (despite the
definition) how "unprofessional conduct" will be determined. Will it be
unprofessional to use vaginal secretions for making a traditional remedy
(as is the practice with some healers)? Will it be unprofessional to
use scrapings from the armpits? Or is it only unprofessional to use
medicines that have not been researched and validated yet?
We are convinced that passing this Bill will open "a can of worms" of
legal controversies and implications. One example would be the question
as to whether traditional healers will be authorized to issue death
certificates.
As Doctors For Life International, we are committed to be part of the
solution and not part of the problem and would therefore like to request
of the government to further investigate the ramifications of passing
such a Bill before voting on it.
