Traditional Medicine Major Problem in Samoa

Written by Astrid Sesega
Tuesday, 25 September 2007
Going to a traditional healer when one falls sick instead of the hospital is becoming a major problem, says President of the Samoa Medical Association and Head of the Medical Unit at the Tupua Tamasese Meole, Lemalu Dr. Limbo Fiu. Lemalu says he and other staff at the hospital have noticed that a large number of patients are visiting traditional healers as the first health practitioner they see when they fall ill. However, he says this is not a new problem and it is not a problem the health system is going to be able to stop. The main concern for the hospital and the Ministry of Health is that people’s lives are at risk because they are not getting the proper medical care from the beginning of their illness. Lemalu pointed out many different cases of which people have died because they have come to the hospital too late. In one case a young child had a diarrhoeal disease and if the child was brought into the hospital it would have been re-hydrated but instead the child was taken to the healer who proceeded to give them potions which in turn made the problem worse instead of better. The child died as a result. Lemalu says a lot of people only rush to the hospital when they are really sick. Never the less he does understand the constraints that may cause a person to visit a healer over travelling to town to go to the hospital. He says, “Traditional healers could be in close proximity and access to Western medicine could be hard for a particular family which is why they chose to see the healers.” Unfortunately for the Doctors and Nurses at the hospital this has become a “day in, day out,” problem that needs to be dealt with. “And this can result in drastic measures such as amputating.” He mentioned that a large number of Diabetes sufferers need to amputate body parts, a result that has come about from going to a traditional healer when their parts of their bodies such as their feet are turning bad due to their illness. As a result most come to the hospital too late and have to have limbs removed. “We have also had drastic results, kids have died.” This includes children who have infections in various bode part, in particular their legs, receiving the traditional massage can actually cause the infection to spread rather than help to get rid of it. Lemalu believes this will continue to be a problem unless there is something done about it. Thankfully the Ministry of Health is working on getting the traditional healers to work along side the Ministry. “What we are trying to do is reach out to them. “We was to get them legislated as allied health workers.” Lemalu says once this is done the Ministry and the healers will get together in order to formulate standards for their work. There are some major reasons why the Ministry is hoping to work together with the healers. One is to regulate the way they do their work and the other is to advise them on when they need to send their patients to the hospital for Western treatment. “We do not want to get rid of them,” explains Lemalu, “We want to be able to work together.” “We can’t stop people from going to the traditional healers.” Comments (0) Subscribe to this comment's feed Write comment Name Email Title Comment
Last Updated ( Friday, 09 November 2007 )

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