Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2009. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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New Vision (Kampala) - November 4, 2009
Abdulkarim SsengendoM
This was during a one-day workshop organised by the Uganda Health Marketing Group at Lake View Hotel in Entebbe on Friday.
Dr. Yoramu Muhwezi, the owner of Hope clinics in Mbarara district said: "Traditional healers claim they check blood. I wonder why the Government is quiet on this," he said.
The group also said pastors who claim to heal diseases with prayer should be arrested.
"They have discouraged people from taking ARVs and other drugs," said Dr. Davis Beinganiza from Kyenjojo.
The workshop was attended by over 130 doctors from Gulu, Mbarara, Kasese, Bushenyi, Mityana, Isingiro, Ibanda, Kasese, Kyenjojo and Masaka districts.
Emily Katarikawe, the managing director of the Uganda Marketing Group, urged the Government to make policies to stop false claims by traditional healers and churches.
Dr. Grace Nambatya, the director of the Research Natural Chemotherapeutics Laboratory, told participants that Uganda had many policies that are not implemented, citing the polythene ban.
Nambatya said the Government was aware of churches and traditional healers misleading the public and said a legal frame work would be designed to stop them.
She said the health ministry did not have resources to facilitate the implementation of policies.
Nambatya called on the stakeholders to join in the fight against such characters and to sensitise the communities on the dangers of such claims.
Issues raised by private health practitioners included the need to provide cheep mental health drugs, discouraging advertisement by traditional healers and the provision of free ARVs to private organisations who can help to distribute them to hard-to-reach areas.
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