A call by the province's health boss for traditional healers to be more open about their practices, coupled with more effective regulation of their work, raised hackles among some delegates at a recent gathering in Grahamstown.
MEC for Health, Sicelo Gqobana, was speaking at a provincial conference on traditional health practitioners on Tuesday.
A call by the province's health boss for traditional healers to be more open about their practices, coupled with more effective regulation of their work, raised hackles among some delegates at a recent gathering in Grahamstown.
MEC for Health, Sicelo Gqobana, was speaking at a provincial conference on traditional health practitioners on Tuesday.
With the theme, "A progressive health system through strengthening collaboration with traditional health practice", the three-day gathering in Extension 9 Hall brought members of the provincial department of health into dialogue with the House of Traditional Leaders, who were representing traditional healers in the province.
Gqobana said the theme was apt for the time and place, saying HIV/Aids and TB were putting a severe burden on the province.
He said there was an unacceptably high rate of maternal and child mortality in the Eastern Cape, "especially in areas where traditional health practitioners are practising".
Gqobana said there was also an increasing incidence of non-communicable diseases, including high blood-pressure and other cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, various cancers and mental disorders.
"Since patients consult traditional and modern health practitioners, there is a need for the practitioners of both forms of health care to cooperate, for the benefit of patients and the improvement of healthcare in general," he said.
Such cooperation could take the form of cross-referrals, as well as the exchange of information on illnesses and techniques of investigation, Gqobana said. Bishop Ebenezer Ntlali, of the Anglican Diocese of Grahamstown said churches, too, had a place in a co-operative health care model. "There are pastors who possess healing powers in various communities. It would then be nice to put our heads together and look for a common solution," he said.
The Bishop called for more resources to be allocated to traditional practitioners, saying, "It is general knowledge that 80% of our population still consults and utilises the services of traditional health practitioners.
Yet more than 80% of our resources in our country are allocated to modern health-care delivery, especially the expensive hospital services and private health care." Gqobana pointed out that this clearly demonstrated a discrepancy "between what the government offers in terms of health care and what the people actually accept in the event of illness".
But Gqobana was determined to place on the agenda what he described as an urgent concern, namely, "the significant challenge characterised by an aura of mystery and secrecy surrounding traditional health care" and "governance of the traditional health care sector".
He called for traditional practitioners to document their work, opening it up both for scrutiny, and as a resource to be shared with others in the field, roused strong feelings among the traditional healer delegation, with many openly expressing their disapproval immediately after he spoke.
Both Gqobana and Executive Mayor of the District Council, Eunice, emphasised that co-operation was the key to better service delivery.
Explaining the history of attempts to integrate traditional and modern health practices, Gqobana referred to the 1978 Declaration of Alma-Ata, adopted at the International Conference on Primary Health Care in Kazakhstan.
The conference declared the primary health care approach to be the key to achieving the World Health Organisation's goal of "Health For All".
In subsequent policy documents, WHO called for the use of indigenous health resources in primary health care. "The declaration of that conference inspired many researchers, who sought to determine the actual and potential role or contribution of traditional medicine in national health care, as well as identify potential areas of cooperation, conflict and integration between modern and traditional medicine," said Gqobana.
The role of traditional healers is formally acknowledged in South African health policy under the post-1994 Constitution.
Their role and the relationship between traditional health and modern medicine have been the subject of frequent debate ever since. The fact that tensions around the issue are still present was illustrated by the remark of Nozizwe Manyakanyaka, who has been practising as a traditional healer in Fort Beaufort for 12 years.
When Gqobana suggested there should be an end to the secrecy surrounding traditional health care, Manyakanyaka said, "There are things that we just cannot share with the world. Not everyone can become one of us. It is a calling.
There are some things we are not supposed to reveal." Member of the Traditional Health Practitioners in Makana, Bongile Singatha said the association supported the MEC's call to share information with 'western doctors'.
"The relationship with the Department of Health was not strong before but now we hope that there will be a stronger relationship between the Traditional Health practitioners and the Department of Health. We used to send patients to doctors but the doctors failed to give us feedback." Singatha said traditional health practitioners support the MECs call to work together with medical doctors.
The traditional healers attending the conference kept the gathering lively with their singing and dancing, having opened it with a traditional ceremony, calling on the ancestors to oversee the event and guide them in the decisions to be taken.
