Traditional medical practitioners want products patented

Gomoa Nduem (C/R), July 20, GNA - Participants at an HIV/AIDS workshop at Gomoa Nduem have appealed to the Centre for Scientific Research into Plant Medicine at Mampong Akwapim, to find a way of patenting medical discoveries by traditional practitioners to enhance the practice.

The workshop, organised by the Gomoa District branch of Ghana Federation of Traditional Medical Practitioners Association (GNAFTRAM) was sponsored by the Ghana AIDS Commission. Participants advocated the detailed documentation of the products after tests by the centre to ascertain their efficacy so that the initial discovery could be preserved for further development.


Mr Yaw Adu Asamoah, Gomoa District Co-ordinating Director, said if traditional medical discoveries could be made public for further research, it would play a major role in the nation's health delivery programmes.

Mr Eric Akobeng, District Monitoring and Evaluation Focal Person for HIV/AIDS, called for collaboration between scientific health workers and traditional healers to make their products hygienic to augment service delivery.


Nana Kwame Arhin, the President of the Association appealed to the government to help members of the association to preserve their products to enable them to last. Nana Arhin appealed to the government to ban things such as profane songs and pornographic films, which promote immorality.