Renowned Ghanaian Naturopathic Professor, Prof. Raphael Nyarkotey Obu, will deliver an expert lecture on the need for National Legislation on Traditional and Alternative Medicine in The Gambia.
Scheduled for July 1, 2023 at the Gambia College, Brikama, the programme is under the auspices of the National Traditional Healers Association of The Gambia (TRAHASS).
It is on the theme “Legislative Regulation of Traditional and Alternative Complementary Medicine Practitioners in The Gambia: A Tool for Recognition in the Healthcare System.”
The conference is expected to attract over 500 healers across the country and abroad to deliberate on the need for the importance of legislation in the Gambia.
Prof. Nyarkotey Obu who is also a medical, science writer, author, and columnist, has been a champion on the national legislation on traditional and alternative medicine in The Gambia since he arrived from Ghana to pursue his legal education at the Gambia Law School in 2022.
He has succeeded in raising huge awareness of scientific natural remedies with his prolific writings in the national dailies.
Having petitioned the Minister of Health this year to take action on traditional medicine, advocacy has paved the way for action to be taken on the development of national action on traditional medicine legislation.
For decades, traditional healers in The Gambia have been fighting for national recognition in the healthcare system but all their efforts proved futile.
In this regard, Professor Nyarkotey believes that there is a huge potential for natural medicine in The Gambia if legislation is fast tracked.
Speaking with the Ghanaian Times in an a telephone interview from the Gambian capital, Banjul, Prof. Nyarkotey Obu said to him, “medicine is not competition, hence, no need for conventional and natural healers to be at loggerheads as he called for collaboration in the healthcare system.”
Legislation, he believed would go a long way to enhance standardisation as has been in India, China, Ghana, South Africa, and many others.
He is an author of scientific articles on The Gambian natural remedies, three books and seven academic papers as a student of the law in The Gambia
BY TIMES REPORTER
