Lagos battles illegal traditional medicine centres

The Lagos State Traditional Medicine Board has identified financial and manpower constraints as some of the challenges facing its clampdown on the over 5,000 illegal traditional medical centres estimated to be operating in the state.

Bodunrin Oluwa, the Board Registrar, stated this at the graduation ceremony for 26 traditional medical practitioners, who had concluded a six-week periodic training programme for the certification of their practice. The Board is the only regulatory body for unorthodox medical practice in the state.

5,000 illegal operators

According to Mr. Oluwa, there are less than 1,000 legal traditional medical centres currently operating in the state. He said ongoing efforts to sanitise the system and prevent the proliferation of illegal traditional treatment centres have been hampered by “financial, mobility, and manpower constraints.” Appealing for more government and public support, he said that the board has “one and a half vehicles because one is almost off the road and shortage of manpower to effectively monitor the activities of the practitioners.”

With a mandate to sanction illegal traditional medical centres, Mr Oluwa said there are over 5,000 of traditional medical practitioners operating illegally in the state, with about 4,000 registered ones. “However, we have less than 1,000 operating legally out of the 4,000 because many of them have not been coming for license renewal yearly, and so they are categorised as illegal,” he said.

Dealing with fake drugs

In recent times, drugs produced by traditional medical practitioners and made from local herbs have flooded the market. However many of them are still in the board’s bad books, in spite of claims of having the endorsement of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control. Mr Oluwa said it is the board’s duty to “verify” the value of the drugs produced by the traditional medical practitioners. “But it seems NAFDAC has been playing the role,” he said. “NAFDAC only checks that it is not poisonous or harmful to human consumption. We have been doing the job, but only for the few that come to us; however, most of the drugs in the market have not passed through the board.”

Training the legit

Traditional medical practitioners are registered after a successful completion of the board’s periodic training programme, covering general healing, faith healing/spiritualism, traditional birth attending, bone setting, among others. According to Mr Oluwa, the training programme also includes the inspection of students’ facilities and presentation of seminars, all aimed at sanitising the traditional medical practice and sensitising the public. “We try to reduce the level of mortality by improving their knowledge and also allay public fear that traditional medicine is fetish and that the practitioners are all ‘babalawo’ (occultists),” he said.

Sarah Ajuwon, a traditional birth attendant, who said she had so far relied on “blessed water, prayer, and routine drugs like Folic Acid and Ferrous”, said she has learnt improved methods to deliver babies. “I’ve learnt how to arrange the labour room and produce herbs for safe delivery,” she said. “We’ve also been told not to give injection, and such cases should be referred to a general hospital.”