Stephen Otage
17 June 2011
The Commissioner Clinical Services Ministry of Health, Dr Jacinto Amandua, has condemned government’s ban on reflexology, saying it was done without wide consultations.
Although he supports maintaining the ban, Dr Amandua said the ban should not be lifted yet until the quack reflexologists are sorted out.
He said with the recent attainment of a Master of Science (Msc) in Palliative Care, he is aware of the benefits the complementary medicine gives patients especially in relief from pain.
The importance
He was on Tuesday meeting Betsy Keating, the lady who introduced the service in Uganda, who came into the country to explain to government what exactly is expected of reflexologists.
“I think what happened in Uganda is unfortunate. I think what went wrong was its commercialisation, advertising, dissemination of wrong information and extortion of money.” She said.
Ms Keatimg said: “Ours is a non-invasive therapy. We do not inject the skin and we do not claim to cure any illness. It is just a touch therapy to offer temporary relief from pain. In Uganda we trained The Aids Support Organization and Hospice Africa and no money was involved.”
She said that they flew in 18 specialists from the United Kingdom to train Ugandans in the skills.
Why close?
Early this year, government closed down all places that were practicing the complementary form of medicine. This was after some of them were accused of claiming to cure all ailments, including HIV/Aids.
Some people lost unspecified sums of money to what turned out to be a sham.
AllAfrica – All the Time