Traditional medicine practitioners have been cautioned not to venture into curing any person with symptoms of the deadly Ebola viral disease.
According to the Director of Public Health of the Ghana Health Services (GHS), Dr Badu Sarkodie, any attempt to treat people with such symptoms would be disastrous for the practitioners.
Instead, he urged the practitioners to always protect themselves, isolate such patients and inform the appropriate authorities in order to contain any outbreak.
Dr Sarkodie was speaking at an advocacy meeting in Kumasi with members of the Ghana Federation of Traditional Medicine Practitioners Association (GHAFTRAM) on Ebola prevention and preparedness in the country.
Dr Sarkodie said since traditional medicine practitioners were the first port of call for sick people in the communities, there was the need for them to know more about the Ebola pandemic and prevent themselves from getting infected.
He advised the practitioners to get some basic protective equipment such as hand gloves when treating general patients and to get the background of those who reported at their facilities with fevers and to inform the district Rapid Response Team to take over.
Liberia Experience
According to Dr Sarkodie, when the disease broke out in Liberia, most of the traditional medicine practitioners were wiped out because they did not know what they were dealing with, as they failed to report it to the health facilities.
The Ashanti Regional Director of Health, Dr Alexis Nang-Beifubah, said although the country was yet to record any case of Ebola, the region had put in place measures to contain its outbreak.
He said the strategic location of the region made it a high risk area and as such the health directorate did not want to leave anything to chance.
Dr Nang-Beifubah said out of the 131 suspected cases recorded in the country, the Ashanti Region alone had 11.
Collaboration
The President of GHAFTRAM, Mr Kojo Odum Eduful, said the association was ready to collaborate with all stakeholders to combat the menace that had befallen the sub-region.
He said the members were ready to subject “our medicinal plant preparations and products for further research and contribute our indigenous knowledge on diseases in order to find a lasting solution to this problem.”
Mr Eduful acknowledged the government’s efforts at involving all health workers in the fight against the spread of Ebola in the country and called for the inclusion of GHAFTRAM representative on the National Ebola Management and Monitoring Team and to provide personal protective materials that “can be accessible by traditional medicine practitioners in all the 10 regions.”
The Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr Samuel Sarpong, underscored the importance of involving traditional medicine practitioners in the country’s quest to prevent the Ebola menace.
