National Traditional Health Practitioners Association (NATHEPA) Chairperson Paul Okibo has urged traditional herbalists in Nyamira County to ensure they are registered so as to be easily identified and professionally recognised.
The leading herbalist requested that all practicing herbalists be registered officially to prune quacks that were affecting their practice and business.
“We have been seeing posters circulating in our towns inviting people with different ailments to go for treatment from people who are not even seen in public. I fear for our clients because when herbal concoctions exhibit life-threatening side effects, it will be close to impossible to trace such quacks,” NATHEPA Chairperson warned.
Other national officials, including NATHEPA Treasurer Nancy Ndubi and Secretary Adrian Kamunde, are demanding for recognition of traditional herbalists like any other profession because their practice has been embraced by many Kenyans, and it’s after all the cradle of conventional medication.
The group of registered traditional herbalists is expected to later undertake several courses at the University of Nairobi about the herbal medicine they are trading in to strengthen the group’s business empire.
Other practitioners registered by NATHEPA include herbal pharmacists, traditional birth attendants, and farmers of medicinal herbs.
This group of practitioners is registered in the Department of Culture and Heritage.
By Deborah Bochere
