SA insanity: 'Witchdoctors get full professional health status' ...

[Hail Columbia]

http://www.africancrisis.co.za/Article.php?ID=21634&

So-called 'traditional healers" in South Africa are 'getting ready for full health professional status,; the uncritical SA news media is reporting.
This is just the latest insanity to hit this disease-ridden country.

The country's president Thabo Mbeki -- the man who became infamous worldwide for denying the existence of the AIDS virus, and whose own party no longer supports him as their leader -- is nevertheless still determined to sign the controversial "Traditional Health Practitioners Bill" into law next month.

One result will be that the so-called "National Traditional Healers' Council' now will be allowed to negotiate with Medical Aid Funds to pay for 'treatments' which are totally untested scientifically and medically very doubtful.

Nceba Gqaleni who actually heads a department referred to as the "Research into indigenous healthcare systems" -- and is a paid government official at the Department of science and technology at the medical university in Natal, said that 'claiming from medical aids should be a simple process once a coding system for charging had been established."

The SA news media is actually widely hailing this as a "Groundbreaking" Bill.

It is expected that at least 350,000 witchdoctors will line up to register with the new "Interim Council", a supervisory body being created to "control' that they carry out 'safe' procedures...

All traditional healers will in fact be required to register with the 'interim council' before they can practise in South Africa, the government claims.

And this 'interim council' will only become a full-blown council with legal 'medical' status after it was 'assessed by the government over a three-year period'...

As a matter of fact these 350,000 witchdoctors are all going to have to pass exams in which they must be able to identify more than 5,000 'traditional herbs', for instance. And it would 'take about five years to become a fully fledged traditional healer", the government claims.

These 'healers' moreover, are being divided into three 'categories', namely diviners (spell-casters also referred to as sangomas), herbalists (nyangas) and the worst of the lot referred to as 'traditional surgeons', who perform 'circumcisions'...

The government spindoctors say that "measures would also be put in place to protect the integrity of the profession, and to discipline healers who issue false sick notes to people or who submit fraudulent claims to medical aid societies..."

Ah, nothing like real affirmative action doctors!

Some more examples of affirmative action medicine:
http://www.africancrisis.co.za/Article.php?ID=10217&

[Kiwi]

It amazes me the mind of the body in healing its self. Witch doctors are very interesting to watch.

[JTFFan]

It amazes me the mind of the body in healing its self. Witch doctors are very interesting to watch.

yes, indeed

[Kiwi]

I have been to one