Traditional medical practitioners told to register 

Traditional Medical Practitioners have been urged to register and renew their licenses, to ensure lawful operations of their businesses.
     
They should also uphold the best standards to help build confidence in their careers, to be accepted on the international market. 
     
Mallam Kofi Sumaila, a member of the Traditional Medicine Practice Council under the Ministry of Health (MoH), gave the advice at his herbal centre at Tinkong in the Akuapem North Municipality.
     
He noted that standards were critical and the basis of it was to promote the health and safety of clients, as well as preserve the environment.
     
Reacting to public perception that he was practicing without license, Mallam Sumaila displayed the document certifying him to work, to the Ghana News Agency.
     
The certificate reads: “The Centre has been licensed as an Alternative Healthcare Facility/Premises, in compliance with the Tradition Medicine Practice Act 2000 (Act 575). It has also been duly registered with the Registrar General’s Department with a certificate to commence business.”    
     
He said the profession was prone to a number of inspections and enforcement by Statutory Regulatory Agencies under the MoH and those found culpable would face the full rigours of the law.
     
The 78-year-old traditional healer observed that if the stakeholders obeyed the ethics of the practice, the wrong perception about their herbal centres could change for the better. 
     
Mallam Sumaila asked traditional healers to endeavour to utilise their acquired profession to help accelerate change and development at every sphere of their practice.
    
He called on his colleagues to endeavour to serve as role models and inculcate moral values in their clients. 
    
He advised those who have not registered but operating to do so, saying this should include chemical sellers, healing / prayer camp operators, Mallams, Traditional Birth Attendants and herbal medicine manufacturers.
     
“Our product must undergo rigorous scientific analysis and endorsed by the Food and Drugs Authority, as a food supplement and approved for sale to the public,” he said.

Source: GNA