Sociologist advocates blending orthodox with native medicine

A medical sociologist has advocated for proper fusion of orthodox and traditional medical practices in the country to enable the nation achieve excellence in its desire for improved healthcare services forNigeria’s teeming population.
The sociologist, Professor Wilfred Shaapera Tila, argued that medical tourism will become a thing of the past in the country as soon as the nation summons the necessary political will to actively harness the vast potentials in its herbs and traditional medicine practice.
Tila, a professor of medical sociology who made these remarks while delivering the 32nd Inaugural Lecture of the University of Abuja, regretted that governments over the years have paid mere lip service to the need for the inclusion of herbal medicine in the nation’s medical portfolio at government hospitals to enable patients make informed choices.
He argued at the crowed assembly hall that there are ailments that cannot be effectively tackled by orthodox medical practitioners which are promptly cured by traditional healers without hazardousside-effects.
The scholar held the audience spell-bound as he stated that fear and insecurity on the part of orthodox medical practitioners were partly responsible for the failure to include traditional healing methods in government-owned hospital facilitiesfor better healthcare services.
He remarked that Asian countries like China, India and those in the Middle East especially Israel as well as many western nations have overcome the unwillingness shown by Nigeria’s elite and political class which has prevented the nation’s leadership from including traditional herbal system into the healthcare system to enable the citizens benefit hugely from a therapy combination policy.
Professor Wilfred Shaapera Tila condemned the refusal of orthodox medical practitioners to share space with native healers and called on doctors to be more accommodating to enable them to learn from the herbalists.
“There is need for us to integrate our medical practices for the good of our society.
There should be free healthcare service throughout the federation and orthodox doctors should learn to be more accommodating and tolerate traditional healers.
I believe that doctors can learnmany things from traditional healers,” he said.