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.
Documents/ Press Releases/ Information
Enquiries: Dr Moses Thindisa
Date: 21 August 2009
Cell: 0828844443
Grisly body parts harvest continues
Visits to traditional healers are frequent in African culture. A common problem with the remedies handed out is that the ingredients remain unknown. People are dying from being poisoned by traditional medicines and they are being killed for body parts, which are used as ingredients in these concoctions. There is an ongoing myth that traditional medicines which include body parts, can make a person wealthy. Nobody can tell what the traditional medicine’s ingredients are and no one knows how the body parts apparently bring wealth, but it is clear that these body parts are some of the ingredients being used.
In a two recent tragedies in Ga-Rankuwa, a traditional healer confessed that she killed and harvested body parts from her daughter to boost her business, and in Durban, three heads were found, detached from their missing bodies! This should be an eye opener to some department of health officials who have been advocating for the inclusion of traditional healers into the health sector, without considering the safety, efficacy and quality of the traditional medicines.
This is exactly what Doctors For Life (DFL) said will happen if traditional healers are absorbed into the healthcare system and have a legal channel to continue practicing.
It is for this reason that DFL is advocating for scientific testing and clinical trials in order to prove the efficacy and quality of traditional medicines, as well as to make known every ingredient involved in producing traditional medicine. From the extremely high incidence of muti-killings, it is clear that some potions sold as traditional medicines contain human body parts that somehow find their way to the consumer. It is important to know the ingredients used.
In a study that analyzed cases of acute poisoning over a 5 year period that were admitted to Ga-Rankuwa Hospital in Pretoria, poisoning by traditional medicines resulted in the highest mortality rate, accounting for 51.7% of all the deaths that were due to acute poisoning. Another study that analyzed the Johannesburg forensic database found that African Traditional Medicines were involved in 43% of all cases of poisoning.
DFL insists that the standards and guidelines for institutions, as well as methodologies for research into traditional medicine therapies and products, and guidelines for use during the manufacture of traditional medicine products, must precede the accreditation of any person(s) as a “traditional health practitioner”. DFL is not ignorant of the role that plants and/or herbs have historically played, and still do play in the development of useful, safe and effective medications. DFL also does not advocate a western yardstick to evaluate traditional African medicines but that they should be based on empirical science.
Doctors For Life International represents more than 1500 medical doctors and specialists. Since 1991 DFL has been active in promoting the safety and efficacy of health care for all South Africans. For more, visit www.doctorsforlifeinternational.com
