By Mphatso Nkuonera
LILONGWE-(MANA)- Vimbuza Healing and Dancers Association of Malawi (VHDAM) has warned that witch-doctors, herbalists and traditional healers who claim to possess herbs that cure Tuberculosis (TB) to stop forthwith before they face the wrath of the association to shovel on them stiff punishments.
VHDAM’s President Dr. Chisusu Mbale who is also Principal Group Village Head (GVH) Jeyeka, well trained on TB and seasoned traditional healer made this warning on Wednesday when he spoke to scores of journalists at his Jeyeka healing house in Traditional Authority (TA) Chikulamayembe in Rumphi.
“The association strongly warns the 3000 members that, some will have their licenses revoked and banned from practicing or be fined if beyond doubt we learn that someone is duping TB patients by cheating on them that they have herbs that cure TB. This is a blue lie and the association will not tolerate that inhumanity.
“Let me hammer home that, only clinical medicine cures TB full stop; any other claims are a result of crookedness and theft. May all TB patients not accept to be fooled, as at times they are told to have been bewitched and that, herbs will free them from TB, that is distantly impossible. Instead, I urge all traditional healers to refer any TB suspected cases to hospitals for early treatment,” he advised.
Mbale a retired teacher who started practicing herbal healing in 1987, has asked government to sensitize herbalists in the country on the dangers of holding TB patients in their traditional camps.
Rumphi TB Officer, Edwin Msiska decried on men in the district saying they rarely visit hospitals for treatment despite all efforts made by community sputum collection committees scattered across the district.
“Very disheartening unlike women who early and willingly seek clinical attention whenever they feel unwell, men have proved to be very different and difficult. This result in most of these men coming to hospital when TB has fully developed and matured making it almost hard to treat it.
“The district loses at least ten per cent of its total TB patients to TB because among other reasons some traditional healers do cheat them that, they will cure them, and further ask these patients to abandon taking TB clinical medicine to fully concentrate on herbs, this is bad as it yields into death,” he said.
He hailed the community sputum collection committees for helping in combating further increase of cases of TB in the district which meets the targets given by National Tuberculosis Control Programme.
Health Surveillance Assistant, Maria Chirwa and Chairperson for Mukombezi Sputum collection team Salome Mhango echoed that, the group was making positive strides in fighting TB as people were willingly coming to have their sputum taken unlike before where there was a lot of myth and were treated with suspicion around their catchment area of 48 villages under TA Mwankhunikira.
“It was hard previously to be accepted at household level to get sputum as they associated us with a lot of misconceptions like conducting forceful HIV and AIDS diagnosis or doing other sinister acts with the spacemen, while it was not the case, thanks to the awareness campaigns conducted in the area with financial support from Global Fund among other donors,” Mhango said.
The committees however mentioned lack of transport to ably take them around their working areas hence asked for well-wishers to assist them with bicycles to ease mobility.
