East African Business Week

Kampala, Uganda-Traditional healers and herbalists in Uganda have asked that a bill to regulate their practice be inacted to remove bias that the public has towards them.
 “This bill will show the public that traditional doctors are not responsible for the human sacrifices they have known them for but they are important medical personnel in society who act as counselors, diviners and advisors to cater for a wide range of both psychological and physical problems” said Abdul Kharim Musaasizi the secretary general National Council for Traditional Healers and Herbalists Associations (NACOTHA).
Kharim stressed that this bill will be able to professionalize their practice and an operational code of ethics will be implemented in order to differentiate con men from the real herbalists.
 "We shall not accept to join any partnership before we get our own traditional medicine bill" He further said.
Mr. Dauda Lukwago a pharmacist at Lukwago herbal research clinic in Katwe pointed out that since National Drug authority mainly focuses on western medicines, they have entirely neglected the traditional medicines and that's why there are a lot of con men within their business since there is no institutionalized body to over see their practice.
NACOTHA is a non government organization that binds all traditional healers and herbalists in the country. It operates within 69 districts in the country and is concerned with certifying and registering all traditional medical personnel.
NACOTHA has put traditional healers into different categories which include spiritualists, herbalists, botanists, pharmacists, bone setters, story tellers and traditional birth attendants. Herbs are good at curing a variety of diseases which include hernia, goiter, sickle cells, heart diseases, ulcers, fibroids, STDs, etc.