Cape Town - Almost a year after a temporary body to regulate traditional health practitioners was set up, the statutory body has yet to register any traditional healers under its wing, making it impossible for them to issue medical certificates.
The Traditional Health Practitioners Council was set up by Parliament in May to regulate traditional health practitioners in the country.
Those registered with the council would have the authority to issue medical certificates as required by the Basic Conditions of Employment Act.
But last week, the national Department of Health admitted that the council had not registered any practitioners.
This had not only left the industry unregulated, but also left it impossible for those who sought treatment from these healers to get sick notes for their employers.
Popo Maja, head of communications in the department, said: “There has not been any registration thus far due to the ongoing finalisation of the institutional arrangements for the full operation of the interim Traditional Health Practitioners Council.”
While traditional practitioners are used by many South Africans, they often bear the brunt of society’s scorn and scepticism due to their non-regulation, among other reasons.
Although Maja would not provide much detail about challenges experienced by the council in registering practitioners, he said the law allowed anyone who wished to register as a practitioner or a student to apply to the registrar.
“Both the department and the council will encourage the registration of all qualifying traditional health practitioners as per the dictates of the (legislation),” he said.
But some in the sector said the non-registration of practitioners was due to the council’s inability to select genuine practitioners from spurious ones.
Writing in the South African Medical Journal, Boyane Tshehla, a lecturer at North West University, said: “The council does not seem capacitated to deliver satisfactorily on this mandate yet. There are a number of reasons, but prominent among them is the difficulty the council is likely to face in selecting the credible practitioners from bogus ones.”
Non-registration would not only block these practitioners from issuing sick notes, it would also mean they could not be held accountable for their wrongful acts and omissions, Tshehla said.
He blamed the non-registration on the council’s imperfect provisions, which allowed the registration of practitioners even before a code of conduct for them was in place.
“Notwithstanding the appropriateness of the regulatory body, it seems that the establishment of the council and its implications regarding (issuing of medical certificates) may create confusion and difficulties in the employment environment,” he said.
Cape Argus