The Traditional Medicine Practice Council (TMPC) says it has the power to regulate Complementary/Alternative Medicine (CAM) practice in Ghana.
The CAM covers spas, gyms and wellness centers in hotels, nutritional health shops, organic and inorganic health shops, beauty and facial centres that offer skin/facial treatments using herbal/organic/inorganic products, massage centres, radionics practitioners, reflexology, and aromatherapy.
The Council said it had become aware of claims by some industry players that the TMPC did not have the mandate to regulate that sector per the Traditional Medicine Practice (TMP) Act 2000, (Act 575).
In a statement shared with the Ghana News Agency, the Council said contrary to the claim, Act 575 rather empowered it to “register practitioners and license practices to regulate the preparation and sale of herbal medicines and to provide for related matters.
“Therefore, related matters are the CAM practices. The Council wishes to inform the public, especially CAM practitioners, that Section 38 of the TMP Act 2000 (Act 575) states that the Minister shall have ministerial responsibility for the Council and may give to the Board directives of a general nature on the policy to be followed by the Council in the performance of its functions,” it said.
The Council further explained that a directive issued by the late former Minister of Health, Major Courage E.K. Quarshigah (Rtd), dubbed: “Policy and Administrative Guidelines on Complementary/Alternative Medicine Practice”, in November 2008, mandated the TMPC to regulate the CAM industry in addition to its original mandate of regulating indigenous practices in Ghana.
“Any CAM practitioner who refuses to be regulated by the TMPC contravenes Section 39 of TMP Act 2000(Act 575),” it said.
Thus, the practitioner “commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding five hundred penalty units or to a term of imprisonment not exceeding two years or to both the fine and the imprisonment and in the case of a continuing offence to a further fine of five penalty units for each day that the offence continues after written notice has been served on the offender by the Council and the Court may order temporary or permanent closure of the practice.”
GNA
