Deputy Minister of Health, Dr Joe Phaahla, says government is committed to working with traditional health practitioners to ensure that they are brought into the fold as the National Health Insurance (NHI) is implemented.
The Deputy Minister delivered remarks at the African Traditional Medicine Commemorative Day held in Mpumalanga on Monday.
The World Health Organisation advocates for incorporating traditional health practices into formal medical systems to make healthcare more accessible and effective.
“The [purpose] of the NHI is to … make sure that we can provide universal access to health services.
“When we talk about health services, we mean comprehensive … whether you call it western or also from traditional health practice. Our responsibility is to make sure that you can provide that platform.
“Majority of our people … rely a lot on traditional health practitioners. So, we would be fooling ourselves if we think we will be able to achieve universal health coverage without making sure that there is an opportunity for proper cooperation between the health sector and traditional practice,” Phaahla stated.
He noted that as the commemorative day is being celebrated, more needs to be done to ensure that challenges related to regulation and recognition are resolved.
“As we are celebrating and commemorating, there’s a lot we still need to do in terms of making sure that traditional medicine – which is our heritage – is given a platform to showcase [efficacy] and we must provide the platform to make sure that you are properly organised and properly regulated from government’s side.
“Our duty as government is to provide a platform where the issue of quality of service, safety and quality assurance is resolved,” he said.
The Deputy Minister assured the traditional medical practitioners that government fully supports their quest to be recognised in any research that is done on traditional medicine.
“As government, we don’t have disagreements with you about the fact that when research is happening and products are being confirmed to be safe, effective and to be able to help people, we must make sure that the people who came with those products are recognised.
“They must be properly documented so that in the future, when these products are being used, the people who brought them into the [mainstream] are also compensated,” Phaala said. – SAnews.gov.za
