Trad healers bill gets nod

2004-09-09 22:01

Cape Town - The Traditional Health Practitioners Bill, which gives formal recognition to about 200 000 traditional healers, was approved in the national assembly on Thursday.

The Democratic Alliance's Ryan Coetzee said there were three good reasons to support the bill.

It formally recognised the central role traditional healers played in seeing to the health needs of people; it provided patients with protection from mistreatment and malpractice; and it reaffirmed constitutional commitment to the promotion of cultural diversity and tolerance of difference.

South Africa was not alone in recognising traditional medicine had a value long neglected by formal health systems.

The World Health Organisation's global strategy on alternative medicine advocated the integration of western and traditional medicines, he said.

"It is very likely in the future that traditional medicine will give us new hope in the treatment of diseases that continue to rob our people of their health and lives."

Worries about time off from work

Moreover, traditional healers were all in private practice, and took on a large part of the heavy demand for healthcare that would otherwise fall to the state to provide.

However, the bill had also raised concerns, including that traditional healers would give patients leave to take an excessive amount of time off work, and that this would adversely affect the economy.

"I can find no convincing evidence that this is likely to occur on a significant scale.

"If it does, then we would obviously need to consider the implications and make appropriate adjustments to the law," he said.

The legislation would also make it illegal for anyone not registered as a traditional healer to offer treatment or a cure for HIV and Aids.

Coetzee said: "But, from this, it must not be inferred that registered traditional health practitioners are able to offer a cure for Aids."

Dr Ruth Rabinowitz of the Inkatha Freedom Party said it was high time Western disciples of scientific materialism recognised the vast storehouse of indigenous knowledge at the fingertips of traditional herbalists.

Tackling pandemics jointly

"It is also high time that the thousands of traditional healers, who have influence on the minds and bodies of millions of South Africans, become part of the effort to tackle HIV and tuberculosis," she said.

The IFP had long called for co-operation between different medical paradigms so that pandemics such as HIV and TB could be jointly tackled.

The bill now goes to the National Council of Provinces for concurrence.

- SAPA