The Sunday Mail
THE Ministry of Health and Child Care is making frantic efforts to develop traditional medicine as the country is lagging behind in the area despite being resource rich.
Health and Child Care Permanent Secretary, Dr Gerald Gwinji acknowledged the slow pace in which the country is standardising traditional medicine.
India, China and South Africa are doing very well in this regard.
“China and India have a long history of traditional medicine development and the Chinese traditional medicine system in particular developed since 200 years ago.
“India has got its own stand-alone ministry of Ayuverda Sida and Homeopathy (AYUSH). The ministry runs its traditional medicine system with specialised medical personnel, research institute, botanical gardens, all faculties of specialty found in the medical system,” Dr Gwinji said.
He added: “Zimbabwe’s traditional medicine level is still between practitioners and patient where the practitioner’s knowledge and training on traditional medicine is personalised.
“Our indigenous knowledge on traditional medicine is not documented, it’s still housed within the practitioners at personal knowledge system and practice is being done from personal shrines.
“Some of the methods and techniques of healing are spiritualised in a way that makes it difficult for the ministry to control, especially if it then involves unhygienic and outdated methods.
“For example kuruma and kudzura is done while somebody is in a spiritual trance,” lamented Dr Gwinji.
He however, said for practices that are not of a spiritual nature, the ministry has been making efforts to make sure that products are harvested, processed and packaged in hygienic and standardised methods.
“The ministry encourages practitioners to access and use the recently published standard for traditional medicine available from the Standards Association of Zimbabwe (SAZ).
“The ministry needs to conduct its own survey since the survey by WHO is now outdated and is also not specific to Zimbabwe,” he said in reference to a survey that alluded that more than 80 percent of Zimbabweans consult traditional healers.
“Those statistics came from a generalisation of the World Health Organisation (WHO) survey conducted in 1983 where it was said 80 percent of people who live in rural areas of developing countries use traditional medicine.”
TMPC is an arm of the Ministry of Health and Child Care and its mandate is to regulate traditional medicine practice in Zimbabwe.
It was formed when the Act was enacted in 1981 and ran under the Zimbabwe National Traditional Healers Association. It divorced from the association in 2006.
Dr Gwinji said those who were managing the council then have carried audits for the operations. In addition, he said the council operated without a board during the period from September 2014 up to November 2016.
During this period, the council’s business was being overseen by the Deputy Minister.
Dr Gwinji said his superior, Minister David Parirenyatwa, noted with concern that TMPC is still struggling to stay afloat without the support of the ministry.
Dr Parirenyatwa advised TMPC to implement strategies to promote its financial base.
