Korle-Bu Senior Staff back government’s decision to introduce herbal medicine in hospitals

The President of the Korle-bu Senior Staff Association, Charles Ofei-Palm has backed government’s decision to include non-orthodox medicines in the country’s hospitals and health centers.

Deputy Minister of Health, Alex Abban, who announced this said the policy is aimed at developing traditional medicine to heights reached by some countries such as China.

He said when the policy is in place, patients would have the option of choosing between traditional or herbal and orthodox medicines.

Commenting on this, Mr Ofei-Palm, who is also a Clinical Pharmacist said if research proves the efficacy of herbal methods of treatment, the approach can be adopted.

“I know there are some polyclinics who have the services of herbal clinics. What we have to ask is are people patronizing those herbal clinics? Are they getting a good feedback? If the feedback can be equated to that of orthodox medicines then there is no problem. But does it definitely have to be orthodox and not herbal? Because when you want to inhibit micro-organisms or germs, sometime you need structured chemicals to deal with them. In that case, the herbal ones may be compromised. But if there is research evidence to prove otherwise, why not?” he said.

The Health Minister at the commemoration of the 17th African Traditional Medicine Day and the launch of Ghana’s 20th Anniversary in Traditional Medicine disclosed that every hospital will soon be provided with medical herbalists to boost the quality of healthcare delivery in the country.

This move is integrate African traditional medicine into the national health system.