Herbal medicine is not fetish - Dr. Lawrence Tetteh

Following an appeal made by President of the Ghana Federation of Traditional Medicine Practitioners Association (GHAFTRAM) Prof. Samuel Ato Duncan to government to increase the number of herbal units in government general hospitals, a discussion arose on the importance of herbal medicine on the Breakfast Show.

The guests on the show in November 24th, 2022, were Mr. Sheikh Aremeyaw Shaibu and Rev. Dr. Lawrence Tetteh.

Dr. Tetteh, said “There is s another silly thing we do in this country. We add fetishism to everything. And so when it becomes a fetish approach, an enlightened person, a middle-class person, wouldn’t like to do it”.

Meanwhile, there are so many traditional medicines that can be used for various purposes. For example, the Nim tree, according to the Reverend was used to treat malaria back in the day.

“We have the necessary medicine here, but we have been mentally derailed with medicine and other medicines that have side effects.”

It has been so demeaned and unappreciated that according to Mr Shaibu there was a period of time when Medical Doctors completely refused to support the use of herbal medicine of any kind.

Of course, now, it has been proven to be useful and herbal practitioners are given licenses to perform in a professional sense.

The guests on the show mentioned that the nation’s taste for foreign goods greatly contributes to the problem of rejecting traditional medicine.

They agreed that instead of using medicines made indigenously, Ghanaians would prefer to import Chinese medicine that is also traditional and made with their local products. Which is basically the same as using herbal medicine.

“Let us believe in Ghana medication.” Dr. Tetteh posited.