Three Italian medical students train in herbal medicine
Three female Italian medical undergraduates are on attachment with the Aponchie Memorial Herbal Clinic to train in herbal medicine.
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The young women, who expressed interest in acquiring knowledge in herbal medicine as part of their medical career, want to understudy herbal experts to have insight into herbal medicine.
At the Aponchie Memorial Herbal Clinic, the medical students were taken through herbs selection, process of preparation and herbal application.
They were also thought herbal massaging and bone setting.
According to them, they were students of the Bologna University on a voluntary medical tour of Africa.
The students, Ms Chiara Crescentini, Ms Guila Cere and Ms Silvia Consolini want to specialise in herbal medicine alongside the orthodox medicine.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic in Tema , Ms Chiara Crescentini who spoke for the rest, said herbal medicine was known in their country but its practice was not embraced like it is in Ghana.
She said from their experiences, herbal use could be effective but emphasised that back in Italy, it could be suggested to patients but could not be practised in orthodox hospitals.
Ms Chiara said it was their personal interest that motivated them to tour when they read about herbal treatment and the Aponchie Clinic on the Internet.
Ms Chiara expressed satisfaction with the attitude of herbal practitioners saying, ‘they discussed and agreed to what should be done and not rely on only the doctor’.
She disclosed that they had plans to go to South Africa and some other areas in Africa for the same purpose to build on their knowledge of herbal medicine.
The Managing Director of the Aponchie Memorial Herbal Clinic, Mr Paul Nyankom, commended the medical students for their intention to study herbal medicine alongside the orthodox medicine.
He said the clinic was in the process of setting up a training school in herbal medicine with approval from the appropriate authorities.
Mr Nyankom expressed gratitude for the support so far received from the management of the Tema General Hospital under the leadership of the Medical Director In Charge , Dr (Mrs) Charity Sarpong, for extending support in diverse ways to help the clinic to achieve its objectives.
He said the Tema General Hospital helped in training staff of the herbal centre in disease control and hygiene.
Mr Nyankom said the clinic had acquired a large tract of land in the Central Region to cultivate most needed herbs for use at the clinic.
He said the clinic had specialised in bone-related problems and had treated many accident cases which were referred to it from some hospitals.
Mr Nyankom was happy that the Italian undergraduate medical students read about the centre on the Internet and followed up voluntarily.
That, he said, showed that the clinic had gone international and expressed the hope that it would continue to attract more foreigners to promote herbal medicine.
