Mr Edward Annor, the Brong-Ahafo Regional Task Force Coordinator for the Traditional Medicine Practice Council (TMPC), has warned herbal medicine practitioners to desist from all acts contrary to the provisions of the
Traditional Medicine Practices Act 575 of 2000.

He reminded practitioners who have not yet registered with the TMPC to do so as a matter of urgency to acquire the requisite certificates and licenses before practicing.

Mr Annor said this when he addressed the Nkoranza branch members of the Ghana National Association of Traditional Healers (GNATH) on Thursday at Nkoranza in the Brong-Ahafo Region.

Earlier the Task Force in collaboration with the leadership of GNATH and Ghana Federation of Traditional Medicine (GHAFTRAM) embarked on an operation ‘eliminate the quacks’ in the Nkoranza South Municipality.

It was aimed at identifying the fake and quack practitioners to eliminate them to ensure sanity in the traditional and herbal medicine practice.
Mr Annor cautioned licensed herbal practitioners to avoid “inducing utterances when on air, just to win customers for themselves”.

He said the TMPC would not hesitate to withdraw the license of any practitioner who professed to offer juju money, lotto numbers and other strange claims.

Mr Annor said there is the need for practitioners to maintain a clean environment in the production and packaging processes of their products to conform to the standards of the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA).

Traditional Dr Baffour Agyapong, the Regional Chairman of the GHAFTRAM, advised herbalists to be extra-cautious when gathering herbs by avoiding areas where herbicides and other chemicals had been sprayed on the vegetation.
He cautioned that such contaminated herbs could cause damage to the kidney, liver and other parts of the human organs.

T/Dr. Agyapong commended Mr Matthew Gyan Nkum, the Brong-Ahafo Zonal Officer of the FDA and his staff and also the Department of Herbal Medicine, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology for the periodic training they had been organising to update the knowledge of members of the Association.

He urged all non-registered practitioners to endeavour to register to become members of the Association to benefit from such period training programmes to enhance their businesses.

Mr Iddrisu Fosu, the Chairman of the Nkoranza branch described the visit of the Task Force as “very significant and rewarding” because the members were educated and updated on the code of ethics of the herbal medicine profession.