Ministry Of Health Constructs Herbal Facility In Kumasi

The Ministry of Health in collaboration with the Kumasi South Hospital at Atonsu Agogo, a suburb of Kumasi has for the first time constructed a herbal medicine unit in the hospital.

The Acting Medical Director of the Kumasi South Hospital disclosed this at the Metro Health Annual Review Meeting in Kumasi.

Dr. Ofori Boadu says the construction of the herbal medicine unit is in line with the Ministry of Health’s policy of introducing safe herbal medicine in some public hospitals in the region.

He mentions that the herbal medicine unit is yet to be launched in the next few weeks and adds that the full scale herbal medicine will begin at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital.

Dr. Ofori Boadu revealed that the hospital have a herbal medicinal practitioner who is giving a consulting room for consultation.

Meanwhile, the President of the Ghana Medical Association says he is not against the use of herbal medicines but cautions that drugs must be tried and tested especially for the first four months of pregnancy.

Dr. Opoku Adusei says the Ghana Health Service for these reasons introduce a herbal medicine course in KNUST to integrate herbal medicine into orthodox medicine, therefore employing some herbal practitioners so that patients can choose between the herbal clinic or the orthodox or even combine the two.

Dr. Opoku Adusei says the drugs prescribed by the herbal practitioners are limited as most of the drugs are not in NHIS list which he thinks the authorities must talk to NHIA and see how best they can deal with it.