Dr. Nyarkotey-Obu
HEALTHCARE POLICY Researchers at Nyarkotey College of Holistic Medicine in Tema and University of Education in Winneba have called on the government to include the construction of modern herbal hospitals as part of its Agenda 111 initiative.
According to them, the Agenda 111 Hospitals project should have another model for public herbal and naturopathic hospitals in the country as has been done in India and other advanced countries.
They believe that the herbal and naturopathic hospitals should be autonomous to be able to function effectively, and the researchers namely Raphael Nyarkotey Obu and Lawrencia Aggrey-Bluwey, believe that it will create equality in healthcare delivery in the country.
“We believe that for Agenda 111 to achieve its ultimate goal of making Ghana a centre of excellence in medical care in the West African sub-region, it must cover all aspects of the health service delivery.
“The government should be able to make room for complementary and alternative medicine, including herbal medicine and naturopathic facilities,” they pointed out.
They expressed the belief that herbal medicine and naturopathic facilities would help generate huge revenue for the government because it will build public trust and allow patients to seek naturopathic services from these government centres.
“It will further prevent more people from seeking private services from herbal and naturopathic facilities which do not have qualified personnel. This will go a long way to prevent unnecessary deaths and disability which occur as a result of people patronising quack herbal practitioners,” the researchers said.
They added that “China, India and other advanced countries have such unique stand-alone government naturopathic hospitals where people seek quality medical services,” saying “if this concept is adopted by the government, there will be a huge boost in the practice of alternative complementary medicine in Ghana and in effect reduce the burden of non-communicable diseases like diabetes, hypertension, due to the naturopathic principles which are applied in delivery of such services.”
From Vincent Kubi, Tema