To rub shoulders with the traditional health practitioner or not, that is the question for the medical doctor in the New South Africa
Andre Duvenhage, Gabriel Louw
Abstract
Background
The South African medical doctor has been well established over the years as the keeper of the holy medical grails. Entrance for newcomers to the medical domain has not been and is still not easy. The hostility towards the allied professions in the 1950s and later in the 1980s provides evidence of this. Certain prerequisites for entrance were set and jealously guarded by the medical fraternity. The Traditional Health Practitioners Act, (Act No 22, 2007) is another such a challenge. This time it is not an outsider fraternity that is fighting alone for its own recognition. They are backed by a government and political force to get the traditional health practitioner (previously known as the traditional healer) statutorily recognized.
Aims
The study aimed to reflect on the future professional relationship between the medical doctor and the traditional health practitioner in South Africa.
Methods
This is an exploratory and descriptive study that makes use of an historical approach by means of investigation and a literature review. The emphasis is on using current documentation like articles, books and newspapers as primary sources to reflect on the future professional relationship between the medical doctor and the traditional health practitioner in South Africa. The findings are offered in narrative form.
Results
It is clear that the Traditional Health Practitioners Act No 22 (2007) will put enormous pressure on the medical doctor, not only to relinquish some of his healthcare empowerment, but also to see and to accept the traditional health practitioner as a new, respectable health co-practitioner and colleague. Facts hereto reveal that there are in terms of training, health ethics, practice approaches, attitudes and views, basically not a single point of similarity or agreement between the medical doctor and the traditional health practitioner whatsoever. Notwithstanding these enormous differences, the existence of the Traditional Health Practitioners Act No 22 (2007) is a fact that the medical doctor can not erase easily from the South African law books.
Conclusion
The traditional health practitioner and the traditional health fraternity will not easily be absorbed into the formal healthcare establishment, notwithstanding the intentions of Section 49 of the Traditional Health Practitioners Act No 22 (2007) to reach this goal over time. Whether the traditional health practitioner will become a true and beloved colleague of the medical doctor, who rubs shoulders with him in his practice, remains to be seen.
Full Text:
The South African medical doctor has been well established over the years as the keeper of the holy medical grails. Entrance for newcomers to the medical domain has not been and is still not easy. The hostility towards the allied professions in the 1950s and later in the 1980s provides evidence of this. Certain prerequisites for entrance were set and jealously guarded by the medical fraternity. The Traditional Health Practitioners Act, (Act No 22, 2007) is another such a challenge. This time it is not an outsider fraternity that is fighting alone for its own recognition. They are backed by a government and political force to get the traditional health practitioner (previously known as the traditional healer) statutorily recognized.
Aims
The study aimed to reflect on the future professional relationship between the medical doctor and the traditional health practitioner in South Africa.
Methods
This is an exploratory and descriptive study that makes use of an historical approach by means of investigation and a literature review. The emphasis is on using current documentation like articles, books and newspapers as primary sources to reflect on the future professional relationship between the medical doctor and the traditional health practitioner in South Africa. The findings are offered in narrative form.
Results
It is clear that the Traditional Health Practitioners Act No 22 (2007) will put enormous pressure on the medical doctor, not only to relinquish some of his healthcare empowerment, but also to see and to accept the traditional health practitioner as a new, respectable health co-practitioner and colleague. Facts hereto reveal that there are in terms of training, health ethics, practice approaches, attitudes and views, basically not a single point of similarity or agreement between the medical doctor and the traditional health practitioner whatsoever. Notwithstanding these enormous differences, the existence of the Traditional Health Practitioners Act No 22 (2007) is a fact that the medical doctor can not erase easily from the South African law books.
Conclusion
The traditional health practitioner and the traditional health fraternity will not easily be absorbed into the formal healthcare establishment, notwithstanding the intentions of Section 49 of the Traditional Health Practitioners Act No 22 (2007) to reach this goal over time. Whether the traditional health practitioner will become a true and beloved colleague of the medical doctor, who rubs shoulders with him in his practice, remains to be seen.
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