By Chukwudi Nwauba :
Anambra State Government through the Ministry of Heath has concluded a one day seminar for National Association of Complementary, Alternative Medicine Practitioners (NACAMP) with focus on Registration, Recertification of Practitioners.
The seminar was organised for the National Association of Complementary and Alternative Medicine Practitioners in the state.
The event held in Awka, has the theme as “Registration, Renewal, Recertification processes and practice guidelines”.
State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Afam Obidike noted the ugly experiences the Ministry has had with quack medical practitioners who later claimed to be homoeopaths, cautioned that Gov. Charles Soludo’s administration will never allow anyone or group of people to toy with the lives of Ndi Anambra.
Dr. Obidike warned that the ministry must understand the mode of operations of the association, criteria for becoming a member and where their facilities are located.
The Commissioner urged them to help the government to serve them better if not the ministry will start clamping down on them to safeguard the lives of Ndi Anambra.
The State Director of Medical Services, Dr. Ugochukwu Chukwulobelu, in his opening remarks, noted that the seminar came to fruition after painstaking efforts, and re-echoed that for efficient medical service delivery, the ministry must regulate their activities to ensure that the ugly experiences the ministry has had with quack doctors who turns to homeopaths overnight is brought to an end, as any life lost can never be reversed.
Dr. Chukwulobelu said that complementary and alternative medicine has come to stay to complement orthodox medicine, all geared towards restoring health and saving lives in the state.
Delivering a lecture tagged “potentiation and pharmacy in homoeopathy”, Dr. Fidelis Okeke from the Nigeria Institute of Homoeopathy, Enugu, among other things, said that the National University Commission has mandated all universities in Nigeria to kick-start courses in complementary and alternative medicines, as it is being done in countries like Japan, USA, China, India, Pakistan and others, adding that lack of government’s support is their greatest challenge.
Dr. Ifeanyi Godwin from Enugu State University of Science and Technology College of Medicine, also delivered lecture on “basic principles and philosophy in homoeopathy.
The Permanent Secretary, Anambra State Ministry of Heath, Dr. Obiageli Uchebo, Sir Chris Azor of the Civil Society Organisation attended the seminar which ended with a question and answer session.
*Nwauba is of the State Ministry of Health, Anambra State.*