Less than 15% of traditional medicine practitioners registered — TMPC

The Traditional Medicine Practice Council (TMPC) has disclosed that fewer than 15% of more than 100,000 traditional medicine practitioners operating in Ghana are currently registered with the council.

Registrar of the TMPC, Dr (MH) Yakubu Tobor Yusuf, said the significant registration gap remained a major challenge to the effective regulation and monitoring of practitioners across the country.

He said the council had, over the past 6 months, intensified engagements with practitioner associations at the district level to encourage more practitioners to register.

According to him, the council had also opened additional regional and district offices to make its services more accessible to practitioners.

Dr Yusuf disclosed this during a media launch in Accra last Thursday to commemorate the 2026 African Traditional Medicine Day.

He said the council had so far inspected more than 500 traditional medicine practice premises nationwide, with some facilities shut down because their operations posed potential risks to public health.

“We found out that the numbers are mind-boggling. Over 100,000. Now the ones that we’ve worked with, I said we’ve visited over 500 premises,” he said.

Public urged to verify licences
Dr Yusuf urged members of the public to patronise only licensed traditional medicine practitioners and products that have undergone the required regulatory processes.

He explained that licensed practice premises were required by law to prominently display their licences, which contain QR codes that can be scanned to verify the status of the practitioner.

“To the Ghanaian public: before you are treated, ask to see the licence. It must be displayed on the wall,” he said.

He also warned the public against practitioners who use social media platforms to advertise or sell unregistered traditional medicines.

According to him, the council had identified and tracked more than 500 practitioners operating in unregulated areas on social media and would take appropriate action against them.

“Tell the public to stay away from some of these people unless they are licensed practitioners and have been licensed to do so,” he said.

Dr Yusuf said the TMPC was also collaborating with the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) to ensure that traditional medicine products requiring certification and registration were referred to the appropriate authority.

He explained that licensed practitioners could prepare fresh, unlabelled and unbranded herbal preparations for individual patients. However, products that were stored, labelled or branded were required to be submitted to the FDA for certification and registration.

The Registrar warned that practitioners who operated without the required licence risked prosecution and imprisonment.

He said the law provided for a summary conviction of up to 500 penalty units, equivalent to GH¢6,000, 2 years’ imprisonment or both for practising without a licence.

Dr Yusuf disclosed that a traditional medicine practitioner in the Volta Region had been arrested and was expected to be arraigned for allegedly practising without a licence.

“Practising without a licence, you could go to jail for two years,” he said.

He further explained that licences were not issued permanently, as practitioners were required to renew them annually.

The renewal process, he said, was subject to continuous professional development (CPD), payment of prescribed fees and re-inspection of the practitioner’s premises.

TMPC reviews training curriculum
Dr Yusuf said the council was also taking steps to strengthen the training of indigenous practitioners as part of efforts to improve standards within the sector.

He disclosed that the Governing Board was reviewing a 6-month competency-based curriculum for indigenous practitioners, including herbalists, bone setters, birth attendants and spiritual healers.

According to him, the programme would be delivered in local languages and would take into consideration the experience accumulated by practitioners over the years.

Call for increased research
The Registrar also called for greater investment in research into traditional medicine, stressing the need to subject indigenous knowledge and practices to scientific research to establish their safety, quality and effectiveness.

He said KNUST and Central University were leading research into standardised herbal products for the management of hypertension and pain relief, with support from German Technical Cooperation, GIZ, and PharmaVax.

Dr Yusuf said about 70% of Ghana’s population relied on herbal and traditional medicine as part of their primary healthcare, making effective research, regulation and monitoring critical to ensuring the safety of such medicines.