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NewsDay

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Zinatha warns bogus healers

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The Zimbabwe National Healers Association (Zinatha) and the Traditional Medical Practitioners Council have urged traditional healers, prophets and sangomas to register their operations with the relevant authorities. Registrar for traditional medical practitioners, Joice Guhwa, told NewsDay yesterday the exercise would help weed out bogus prophets and traditional healers. Guhwa added that since the beginning of […]

The Zimbabwe National Healers Association (Zinatha) and the Traditional Medical Practitioners Council have urged traditional healers, prophets and sangomas to register their operations with the relevant authorities.

Registrar for traditional medical practitioners, Joice Guhwa, told NewsDay yesterday the exercise would help weed out bogus prophets and traditional healers. Guhwa added that since the beginning of the year, the Traditional Medical Practitioners Council had registered more than 1 000 traditional healers.

He said healers have to be registered in terms of the Traditional Medical Practitioners Act.

The traditionalists are supposed to be using the Act of Parliament 27:14 which was established in 1981 and amended in 2000, she said. The Act was propounded so there would be no bogus practitioners.

Guhwa said more than a thousand people were registered as traditional healers.

Herbalists, as well as those who sell traditional medicines and faith healers, are also registered.

They are given forms for application and then they are given licences if they are approved and registered.

The licences are supposed to be renewed every year like those of pharmacists and nurses, to ensure they are operating according to the laws of Zimbabwe, she said.

Guhwa said the councils role was to supervise and control the practice of traditional medical practitioners to avoid infiltration by bogus healers.

She said the council had established a training programme for traditional medical practitioners at the University of Zimbabwe to train its members.