The Sunday News
Sisa Sihwa, Sunday News Reporter
THE Traditional Medical Practitioners Council (TMPC) has said all traditional healers who will be found operating without licences risk being reported to the police and prosecuted.
In an interview, TMPC registrar Ms Joice Guhwa said the organisation was on a drive to register traditional medical practitioners in line with the Traditional Practitioners Act which is seeking to ensure that the operation of the healers is above board.
She said traditional medical practitioners who were not registered and licensed risk being dragged to the courts for operating illegally.
“Everyone who practices is regarded as a traditional medical practitioner from herbalists, spirit mediums, naturopaths, distributors, faith healers and traditional birth attendants,” said Ms Guhwa.
She said there were more than 1 000 members on their register so far. Zimbabwe National Traditional Healers Association (Zinatha) president George Kandiero said his organisation was in the process of screening some of the traditional healers before forwarding the names to TMPC for licensing.
“As Zinatha we are responsible for screening these traditional healers to check if their methods are above board. Then we give them the go ahead to attain a licence with the TMPC. We want to ensure that their operations are according to the law,” he said.
