Agbozume, Sept 29, GNA - An official of the Ministry of Health (MOH) has said membership registration cards, issued by the Association of Traditional Healers to its members, were not operational licenses. Only the MOH could issue operational licenses. Mr Francis Hlortsi-Akakpo, Registrar of the Traditional Medicine Practice Council (TMPC) Secretariat of the MOH, made the clarification at a workshop for 50 Traditional Healers in the Volta region at Agbozume.

Mr Hlortsi-Akakpo said to his knowledge no Traditional Medicine Practitioner (TMP) had been issued with an operational license. "You are all operating without the legal backing," he told the assembly, adding that, "government has been exercising restraint or else most of you would have gone to jail, as you use the wrong documents and do certain unacceptable things". Mr Hlortsi-Akakpo however assured the TMPs that the MOH would issue such operational licences as soon as the Traditional Healers Council was formed. He however said those who were engaged in traditional healing would have to register with veritable associations of practitioners to pave the way for the formation of the Traditional Healers Council, so as to get rid of charlatans.

Mr Hlortsi-Akakpo urged traditional healers to strive to improve their practice in order to win public acceptability, and be able to gain entry into the national health delivery system. The TMPs Secretariat organized the workshop in collaboration with the Ghana Federation of Traditional Medicine Practitioners Association (GHAFTRAM), World Health Organisation and the Association for the Promotion of Traditional Medicine (PROMETRA). The workshop, which was intended to up-grade and sharpen the skills of the TMPs in the country, treated topics including human immunity, standardization, data keeping, sexually transmitted diseases and compliance.