Herbalists asked to stop administering herbal concoctions on pregnant women

Wa, Sept. 30, GNA - Members of the Ghana National Association of Traditional Healers have been advised to stop administering herbal concoctions on pregnant women due to its negative effects on their health.

It has come to the notice of medical doctors at health facilities in the Upper West Region that some pregnant women died while in labour largely because they used herbal concoctions. Madam Rita Kamina, an Environmental Health Assistant at the Regional Directorate of the Ministry of Health, said these at a meeting of members of the Association in Wa on Wednesday. She educated the members on good hygienic practices to promote health in the communities.

Madam Kamina said in some cases doctors were able to save the lives of pregnant women but unable to save the lives of their babies because of the effects of concoctions on them. She expressed worry that some pregnant women inserted herbal concoctions into their private parts, which affected foetuses and eventually babies.

Madam Kamina called for effective measures to reduce maternal and child mortality as well as deaths caused by snake bites. She expressed disappointment that some herbal practitioners, who claimed to have cure to snake bite, detained persons, suffering from snake bites, resulting in their deaths.

Dr. Mahama Topie, Chairman of the Upper Regional Branch of the Association, asked members to help remove 93bad ones" among them. He cautioned herbal practitioners against cutting of the bodies of babies with blades and other sharp tools to apply concoctions or herbal substances to those spots.

Dr. Topie appealed to herbalists to register with the association to help check quack practitioners.