Review Health Insurance law to cover herbal medicines - Herbal Doctor

Mr Kwesi Afriyie-Badu, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Aponche Clinic, has advocated amendment of the National Health Insurance (NHI) law to allow people to access health care from accredited herbal and traditional healers. He explained that such development would help reduce the cost of health care in the country and also give a boost to the development of herbal and traditional herbal medicine in the country. Mr Afriyie-Badu was speaking at the closing ceremony of a two-week training programme organized by the Centre for Scientific Research into Plant Medicine (CSRPM) for staff of Aponche Clinic at Mampong-Akuapem. The training participants were taken through various topics on the preparation of herbal medicine including plants sampling and identification, quality assurance and standard operating procedure in herbal preparations, disease classification, preservation of herbs and the establishment of herbal farms to ensure continuous supply of herbs and their preservations. Mr Afriyie-Badu said Aponche Clinic aspired to offer the best health care for its clients and so the clinic was collaborating with the Tema General Hospital and the Tema Metropolitan Health Directorate to enhance their performance. Mr Afriyie-Badu called for a national strategic plan to make Ghana a major player in the world herbal medicines market. Professor Dominic Edoh, Executive Director of the CSRPM, assured that the Centre was ready to collaborate and share information on its work with herbal centers and individual herbalists and traditional medicines practitioners, who are interested in the work of the Centre and to improve upon their knowledge. He commended the leadership of Aponche Clinic for the efforts to get their staff to acquire more knowledge on their work. Professor Edoh said for the fact that today one could get access to herbal medicines at the regional hospitals in the country was an indication that the nation was making efforts towards the development of herbal medication as part of the formal health care in Ghana.