MZANSI traditional health practitioners are learning the Chinese health system.
Three eNetHealth delegates travelled to China to attend a three-week long public health system seminar hosted in Guangzhou, China, by the Southern Medical University. It started on 11 October and ended on 31 October 2023.
Makhosi Keagile Malatji told Daily Sun they visited Nanfang Hospital and Shenzhen Hospital to observe how the two systems work together.
She said it was in line with the World Health Organisation’s initiative to promote one health system. She believes that even in South Africa, the government can also get to the point of focusing on bringing all health practitioners together.
"One of the important lessons is the issue of land. When we visited the villages where we saw plantations of herbs as well as the processing of herbal teas, I realised that we needed to work on land.
"We needed to work together with our royal houses to secure land for us as African health practitioners to be able to build nurseries to preserve our indigenous plants not only for commercial purposes but for preservation as well," she said.
"As African traditional health practitioners, we need to acknowledge that in order for the world to accept our products, we need to partner up with research institutions, laboratories and medical practitioners at large to collect, collate and prove efficacy and safe use of our medicinal plants," she said.
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According to Malatji, without clinical research, they would not go anywhere. She said without proper patient records, they couldn’t prove that their medicine worked. She said the issue of training was a must, and understanding physiology and anatomy was a must for traditional healers to heal people safely.
The secretary general of eNetHealth, Dr Langi Malamba told the Daily Sun that through the seminar, participants learnt and understood China’s public health system structure, exchanged idea and also learnt public health theory and practical experience.
The three delegate were recently welcomed back at the OR Tambo International Airport. They then proceeded to Midvaal, where they were welcomed by the king of Makgolokoe A Mafehleng, Kgosi Kgolo Lehasa II, Vaal University's Professor Fanyane Mtunzi, Dr Moeketsi Mathe, Sedibeng District Municipality's chief whip Kgosatsana Mamohale Moloi and other stakeholders.
The three delegates, Violet Montso from eNethealth, Dr Keagile Malatji and Dr Fikile Vilakazi, chairperson of interim Traditional Health Practitioners Council of South Africa (ITHPCSA) and Ikhwelo Healers, now understand the framework of China’s public health system.
