Mr Michael Lawson, Head of Compliance, Enforcement and Inspection, TMPC, said the closing of shops and confiscation of products and a subsequent penalty to pay were the last resorts after an engagement with the offenders and a follow up through an urgent letter of demand for them to come and process their licenses.
The team seized some herbal products from the Adentan branch of Lucky Herbal Shops for lack of license and herbal products from Kofi Herbal Products, an entity that had operated for over a decade without license.
The other shop closed down was Ultra Spa, which had been operating without a license for the facility and the massage therapists. Vickyadobs Ventures Organic Health Shop and Edu Herbal Clinic – both operating without licenses were also closed down.
Mr Lawson said the aim was not to collapse businesses but to ensure safety assurance, adding that “there are instances where the shop or clinic owners are licensed but the people involved in washing of the herbs and bottling who are also practitioners per the Act are not licensed.”
“For instance, massage therapists are supposed to write a professional qualified examination (PQE) and when they pass we give them license to operate. So next year, we shall build a comprehensive platform where practitioners in good standing will be published for the public to know where to go,” he said.
The TMPC has over 30 associations with over 100,000 members, last year the Council licensed about 6,000 members and this year, it has given license to about 2,000 members to operate.
Some of the associations and practitioners under the Traditional Medicine Practice Council are Herbalists, traditional doctors, priests and priestesses, faith healers, psychic healers, chiropractors, naturopathy, homeopathy, Yoga, Ayurveda, acupuncture, massage therapists and gym instructors amongst others.
Mr Felix Kofi Adzofu, a Herbalist and owner of Kofi Herbal Products, who had moringa, turmeric, ginger and cinnamon, amongst others on his shelves, admitted he had no license because of the cumbersome nature of the process.
“I have made several attempts for the license but they frustrate me, however, I have customers who are not interested in the chemical drugs. I have been to the Centre for Plant Medicine Research and Food and Drugs Authority several years but I also need to work,” he said.
The Traditional Medicine Practice industry is said to be a thriving one with about 70 per cent of the Ghanaian population relying on it for health care. In 2023, the industry generated Gh¢ 2 billion.
