The Lagos State Government has issued a deadline for traditional medical practitioners in the state to register their premises with the Lagos State Traditional Medicine Board or face sanctions.
The Registrar, LSTMB, Mr Babatunde Adele, directed in a statement on Sunday that all traditional, complementary and alternative medicine practitioners, as well as product manufacturers, importers, wholesalers, and retailers, should regularise their practice and get registered with the agency by the end of September 2023.
The Registrar said the agency had “observed with dismay, the rate of flagrant disregard to the prevailing laws guiding the practice of traditional medicine in the state among some illegal operators who are bent on bringing the reputation of traditional medicine practice into disrepute.”
He added that the agency had concluded plans to activate its Inspectorate Unit as enunciated in Part Nine of the Health Sector Reform Law 2006 to checkmate excesses among the practitioners.
Adele noted that the National Council on Health had resolved at its 62nd meeting held in 2019 that all 36 states of the federation and the FCT should establish Traditional, Complementary, and Alternative Medicine Departments/Boards within their respective domain to enhance coordination, regulation, and control of TCAM practice and its products in Nigeria.
He implored traditional medicine practitioners to visit the Lagos State Traditional Medicine Board at its head office to regularise their establishments and make their existence known to the state government.
“Failure to comply with the above directive might necessitate appropriate sanctions which may include sealing of contravening premises,” he stressed.
Source: Punch
Image: This Nigeria