The missing piece in the health puzzle
Nnasaretha Kgamanyane | Friday January 30, 2015 15:10
Some years ago, a local traditional healer, Lesegolame Semathu, referred one of his patients to Princess Marina Hospital for assistance. Semathu, who is the Ngaka Association chairman and a member of the Traditional Doctors Association, had tried all types of remedies on his patient to little avail.
“When my patient came to me, his condition was very critical and I couldn’t get rid of it. I was able to identify his sickness, but because he had low fluids (water), I referred him to the hospital where I indicated in the referral letter that he had to be given a water drip and then come back to me so that I could continue helping him regain his health,” Semathu says.
The traditional healer was shocked to discover that not only had doctors dismissed his referral letter, they had allegedly left his patient unattended the whole day. To add insult to injury, Semathu says when his patient was finally treated, he was not sent back to him as requested in the referral.
“My patient vowed to never go back to any health facility saying nurses and doctors do not care about patients’ lives,” the traditional healer says.
“I think that referring our patients to those doctors makes them liable to discrimination as they have to suffer before they can get help.”
For centuries before the arrival of Western medicines, Africans relied on traditional doctors and the remedies for various ailments and diseases. Batswana looked to traditional doctors for healing, protection and intermediation with the gods.
The traditional doctor occupied a lofty, but mystical position in the social organogram, feared and beloved in equal measure. In the time that Western medicine has firmly replaced the traditional doctor as the mainstay healthcare, scientists have begrudgingly confirmed that some of the remedies from the healers were actually spot on. To this end, the World Health Organisation incorporates traditional healers in public health delivery, a decision that Botswana officially supports. However, Semathu’s experience has left him with a sour taste in his mouth.
“I feel that traditional healers are undermined in this country. Even though we were told to cooperate, I feel that even though we are stakeholders in health, we are undermined. We face difficulties in working with nurses and doctors because whatever we say is always dismissed,” he says. Traditional healers lose many patients to mainstream healthcare providers as nurses and doctors discourage patients from returning to their (traditional) set up after treatment, says Semathu. The standoff has meant traditional healers are increasingly reluctant to refer their patients to medical facilities unless the patients go on their own volition.
“If we could work well together, we could find the solutions to many illnesses and make Botswana a better and healthier place,” he says.
Gaborone Central legislator, Phenyo Butale, reckons the conventional health care sector would be well advised to cooperate with traditional healers “as they play a major role in health management in Botswana”.
“If the two sets of health practitioners could learn to accommodate and acknowledge each other, they could accomplish a lot health wise,” he says.
For its part, the World Health Organisation defines traditional medicine as the “sum total of knowledge, skills, and practices based on the theories, beliefs, and experiences indigenous to different cultures that are used to maintain health, as well as to prevent, diagnose, improve, or treat physical and mental illnesses”.
Traditional medical practices can include plant, animal, and mineral-based medicines, massage, spiritual therapies, and a variety of other techniques unique to different regions and cultures. Traditional medicine is typically contrasted with conventional medicine, also referred to as allopathic, modern, orthodox, or Western medicine, which is based on biochemical theories of illness.
“The divide between traditional and modern health care systems is also demonstrated by a lack of collaboration,” the World Health Organisation notes.