Licensed to heal

2004-09-08 12:22

Johannesburg - South Africa's 200 000 traditional healers are coming out of the shadows under new legislation that will bring them officially into the health care system and hopefully weed out the quacks.

The Traditional Health Practitioner's bill which comes before parliament on Thursday provides for the creation of a council to oversee the licensing of traditional healers and act as a watchdog.

"It is really a true recognition and it is indeed long overdue," says Phephsile Maseko, national co-ordinator of the Traditional Healers Organisation which represents 70 000 practitioners in southern Africa.

The move to regulate traditional healers who use rituals in combination with herbal remedies to treat what ails the body and soul comes amid efforts to cope with one of the world's highest Aids rates affecting 5.3 million adults, or one in nine South Africans.

"They have a huge role to play in HIV/Aids: training, caring and they also play a role of mediator," says Maseko.

Close to 70% of South Africans consult traditional healers who remain prominent figures in Zulu, Xhosa and other black African cultures, according to the health ministry.

Under the bill, only those healers who are registered can practice medicine and they will be barred from making diagnosis or treating terminal diseases such as Aids and cancer.

A conviction under the terms of the proposed legislation can lead to a fine or imprisonment of up to 12 months.

Ancestral spirits

But the bill fails to spell out the criteria for granting a licence and the mechanism for keeping the practitioners in check.

The bill has drawn flak from some in the medical establishment who say the type of holistic approach practiced by the traditional healers is not scientifically sound.

"Most traditional healers are called by the spirits to become healers," Doctors for Life International representing 600 traditional healers said in a statement.

"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'," the group said.

But the South African Medical Association representing 16 000 practitioners is welcoming the move to regulate the healers and make their practice safer for the public.

"There are many people who utilise traditional healers and the notion of getting them registered and getting standards of safety is a good notion," said Dr Kgosi Letlape, chairperson of the South African Medical Association.

It will nevertheless take years to implement the legislation and to issue licenses to the plethora of medicine men and women who practice various forms of healing.

- AFP