City creates relationships with traditional healers
City of uMhlathuze launched a Traditional Health Practitioners (THP) on Thursday
WITH 80% of the South African population relying on traditional medicine, the City of uMhlathuze launched a Traditional Health Practitioners‘ (THP) forum at the Empangeni Civic Centre on Thursday.
The aim of the forum is to create good relationships between government structures, medical practitioners and traditional healers.
The emphasis is on ensuring traditional healers are able to identify and understand certain symptoms of different illnesses and refer patients to clinics or hospitals for treatment when necessary.
In his address, City of uMhlathuze Speaker Mfundo Mthenjane said traditional healers play an important part in people’s lives.
‘It is therefore important that government recognises their role in our communities.
‘The uMhlathuze Municipality is working together with traditional health practitioners to fight diseases and give hope to the people,’ said Mthenjane.
He also said there is a growing concern among communities about unlawful traditional practitioners.
‘Formalisation and organisation of traditional healers as a sector is one of various ways in which unlawful tendencies can be combatted. It is for this reason that the local Aids Council took the initiative to form the THP forum, guided by Act No 22 of 2007 of Traditional Health Practitioners’
The act seeks to register and regulate the THP in terms of practitioners’ qualifications, licensing and accreditation.
The act will recognise diviners (izangoma), herbalists (izinyanga), prophets or faith healers (abathandazi), traditional surgeons (abasokisi) and birth practitioners ( ababelethisi).
Other stakeholders who participated during the event were representatives from the Premier’s Office, Department of Health, Environmental Health, Wildlife, Cogta, Department of Economic Development and Tourism and the Department of Arts and Culture.
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