Torgbui Yaka IV, Registrar of Traditional Medicine Practitioners Council, has urged spiritualists, traditional medicine dealers and faith-based medicine practitioners to desist from selling products in commercial vehicles or face the full rigors of the law.
The Registrar said the council did not encourage or condone sale of medicines in buses and called on both practitioners and non-practitioners to stop the practice immediately.
Addressing participants on the topic; “Regulation of Traditional and Alternative/Complementary Medicine; Medico-Legal Implications," Torgbui Yaka said practitioners, under the law, were expected to operate in identifiable facilities so that patients could report back to them their conditions or complications arising from taking any medicine (s) prescribed.
He said the practitioners were supposed to write prescriptions to clients as done in conventional hospitals, clinics or health centres to guarantee that patients took the right dose at the right time.
Torgbui Yaka cautioned faith-based organisations and spiritualists against chaining mentally ill patients or a male practitioner bathing a female patient.
He asked the traditional medicine practitioners and dealers to be ethical in the performance of their duties by ensuring compliance with the law, fairness, and confidentiality of patients to protect the profession's image.
Torgbui Yaka threatened to withdraw the license of members who violated the Traditional Medicine Council Act and or conducted themselves unprofessionally.
This, he said, was clear violation of their fundamental human rights and posed legal consequences to members and did not augur well for the image of the profession.
He also cautioned practitioners to stop parading themselves as medical doctors by using the title “Dr”, saying: “you should be very careful, there are legal implications as you carry out your business, we want to reduce fatalities, we want to reduce frequent court cases”.
Torgbui Yaka said the council would work with relevant institutions and agencies to get rid of quack practitioners and also ensure that members complied with the law and behaved professionally to save lives.
