10th participant

I: good morning daddy

Hmp10: good morning
I: let me ask you, for how long have you been using herbal medicine.
Hmp10: i will say about for close to 10 years now, i have been using herbal medicine.
I: what ailments or sickness have you been using herbal medicine to treatment.
Hmp10: before i started using herbal medicine, i had a serious typhoid problem, so i was
introduced to this very clinic. So, because i went through the orthodox system, the treatment
was not effective for me, so i came here, initially around 1997 or so, since then i have been
visiting the place, and i think that since then, i have seen other people who have testified
about visiting herbal clinics, especially like a place like this and i think that it has worked
well for me that is why once a while, i keep coming.
I: you said that someone introduced you to this place, so who is that.
Hmp10: it’s a colleague at my workplace. He has also been here before, with a certain
condition so he introduced me, in fact he had the same challenge, with typhoid and he came
here so i also came here and by the grace of god i am also fine.
I: so currently, coming here, what condition are you treating.
Hmp10: for some time now, as i speak to you, i used to experience some stiffness in my eyes.
I have been off for some time but then, today i brought my parent for treatment and i decided
to come and check my system and to see how they can also help.
I: so, when you were having the typhoid, how were you feeling and what were some of the
symptoms.
Hmp10: the fact of the matter is that the level of typhoid, when i went to one of the clinics,
when i went through the lab system, the doctor actually confirmed that, since he became an
experienced doctor, this is the first time he has had a patient with that level of typhoid, since
he became a medical doctor. It got to a point where i could sit down and feel that i have a
shock in my hands very very terrible ones. Sometimes, i will be walking and i will feel that
my body will shake at a certain level i have to stand for a while. So, this was the symptoms.
I: So were you having pains, this abdominal pain, body pains
Hmp10: Yes, for body pains, severe body pains. Well, it took the grace because the level i
myself got to, I realized that very at the high side.
I: okay, we thank god. Now, let me ask you, so when you came to the clinic, you were given
some drugs.
Hmp10: yes, i was given some drugs.
I: so, what were the forms of drugs.
Hmp10: they are liquids. So, they were good because as much as i could say that in the herbal
treatment, on of the challenges i had before was that they give you a lot of medicine for you
to be okay. For instance, if i am feeling headache, i may take maybe paracetamol and be fine
but for the herbal treatment, you need to take in a lot of the drugs for you to be okay but
eventually when you are healed too, you know that you are healed.
I: so now, let’s move on to the benefits, you have been taking herbal medicine for all this
while. So, i want to ask you, what are the benefits you’ve gained from using herbal medicine.
Hmp10: as for the benefit, its numerous. I have tried orthodox and i have tried herbal. The
fact of the matter is that as for herbal, when you take it, there are certain symptoms you take
the orthodox medicine, there are certain symptoms; experiences you have in your system,
when you take herbal medicine. For instance, if i should take a malaria drug, maybe apart
from malaria medicines, there are most of them, when you take it, you feel very drowsy but
in the herbal system, when you take malaria medicine, you look normal and for me, i think
that is very good. The side effect is minimal, anytime i take it, i am very fine with it.
I: aside that when you take it, you are okay and the side effect is minimal, do you think they
have other additional advantages
Hmp10: yes of course! Yeah, for the benefits i think that, well, if you come to a place like
this, their herbal medicine is cheaper. You can afford, so for me, that’s benefit because you
go to other hospitals, the cost of drugs that we pay for as compared to when you are here, i
can tell you that this is cheaper, far far cheaper than going to the orthodox side. So, for me, if
i am a business person and i can pay less for the cost of treatment and i will be fine, i think i
can save money for other things also. So, for me, i think that it has a lot of benefits that we
need to improve the way we go about it.
I: so now, lets come to the herbal clinic. At least, you’ve been to the orthodox side and i mean
the herbal clinic, what can you say about your experience with the herbal clinic here.
Hmp10: well, i think that they are very efficient, err mm, well, the only thing i see is, it looks
like we are not investing into the herbal clinic as much as compared to the orthodox side.
Because for the past three years, i have not been here. It’s today i have come. If i look at the
improvements here, it looks like we are not doing much to improve the place as compared to
the orthodox side. When i came here, these structures were here alright. I have seen some few
things been done, but i think that we should have improved it more than we are seeing now.
Yes, that is the difference. When you go to the orthodox, you can see that there is a lot of
investment to orthodox medicine. Maybe most people are now beginning to understand that it
is better to go through the herbal side but largely, people go to the orthodox but i think that
people’s attention now is coming to the herbal side but we need to invest into it because the
fact of the matter is that somebody may come here today, the environment alone will either
encourage him to come next time or not to come here so i thin that some investments needs to
bed done.
I: so aside the investment, what else do you think that can be done, looking art your
experience with this particular place or with herbal medicine.
Hmp10: well errm, what should be done is, because i have been here for three years now, i
don’t know, maybe, today will confirm whether their systems are improved or not, yes! But i
think today i will be able to confirm
I: i get you. Right now, i just want us to continue. You’ve been here, you’ve been coming
here. The point is that, when you come here, in terms of customer care, your relationship with
the doctor or with the nurses, how is it like.
Hmp10: i think that they receive you more and you feel more comfortable with them than the
orthodox side. Well, maybe the orthodox, because there is so much patients on them, doctors
don’t have time to engage patients but anytime i come here, you see the engagement. They
are free to talk to you, you are relaxed, you don’t fee anything to communicate to him your
conditions but its difficult even to go to the orthodox and say: “oh doctor, what is wrong with
me”. They may not even have time for you but here, any question you ask, they are ready to
respond to it and i think that it is a good thing to do. It encourages you to come.
I: okay, that’s good. Now, others are of the view that the reason why people will come to the
herbal clinic like this place is because when you go to the orthodox side, there is long queue, i
mean, what do you think about that or what do you say about that?
Hmp10: i think it is true. That is one of the facts. I am from akosombo, you can go the
hospital in the morning and come back in the night. You will go to hospital, especially if you
tell somebody that you are going to hospital in vra hospital in akosombo, when you get there,
you will leave there in the night. So, there is so much pressure there. There is so much
tension at the hospital. So going there, you need to have time to go to the hospital. If you
don’t have time, don’t go there. In fact, i am from akosombo anyway, in fact, if i come here, i
leave here to akosombo before 3 o’clock and i think that it is good. Yes, i think that it’s very
good.
I: okay, so let me ask you, do you think advertisement also play the role in you coming to use
the herbal medicine clinic?
Hmp10: well, i will say that they are not advertising enough. I know this scientific clinic, you
know a lot of people knows about it but if you look at the small herbal clinics that are
springing up, the way they talk, the way the advertise, it looks like this particular one are not
advertising as expected but i think that they are almost all the herbal clinics, it’s a
government one. I think they are doing research. I believe that most of the herbal clinics, they
come here for approval for their preparations but it looks like they are not advertising here to
us and when you ask, they will mention aponkye clinic, they will mention other herbal clinics
but they wont mention here because you done hear, in fact when i was moving here from
akosombo, anywhere i tune my radio, you will other clinics that hey are selling medicine. It
looks like they are not talking about this place as much.
I: so, let me ask, in coming here, you’ve also been using the herbal medicine. What do you
dislike about it?
Hmp10: well, i am okay with it but what don’t actually like is that it takes a loner time, in
fact, some of the conditions, it takes a longer time for it to go. In fact, you need to come
frequently. They give a lot of medicine but you need to come frequently for a long time
before you will be fine. It takes a lot of time. So that is the only problem i have. At the end of
the day, it means also to wait because when they take you through and you follow it, at the
end of the day, you can see that you are fine. But there are drugs, it differs from person to
person, well i don’t have problem with taking bitter medicines and other things. Other
peopled have. You go to the orthodox and the tablets, other people put it in their mouth
before they swallow so when you give them the liquid one, they deter it. So maybe, i think
that we should go into the tabs more than the liquid even though i prefer the liquid but the
other people have challenges taking liquids.
I: so, let me ask you again, what do you think are be some of the reasons why people may not
be patronizing this place or have not been using the herbal medicine.
Hmp10: you know the fact of the matter is that over the years, a lot of people have, in fact,
we are the cause of many people using the herbal medicine because you know, because of
money, people do a lot of fake herbal medicines over the years so many people have it at the
back of their minds that, i don’t know, leave them because when you take it nothing will
happen but i think that a recognized place like this where they are fit and will do the right
thing, when you begin to impress on people and talk about it and begin to speak to people
about it, i believe that a lot of people will tune their mindset. The challenge is the mindset
because over the years, i think that we have taken certain things that did not help us. For
instance, we started herbal medicine from our homes. Some of the them, the measurement
even to take, the quantity to take, they don’t have it. They will tell you that you just have to
boil the medicine and put cup on it so at the end of the day, if you are not so careful, the
dosage can also cause the illness to increase of whatever. So, i think that is the challenge that
people have but our time, if we are able to educate people well and a lot of people have faith
in them. If that is done, i think a lot of people will turn to the herbal medicine than the
orthodox one. Because really, i believe that the orthodox one, in fact, i went to the hospital
last week at one of the private clinics and they gave me a drug. The side effects alone i read
in the pamphlet, i was afraid to take the drug because at the end of the day, the side effect is
too much as compared to the herbal treatment. So, i believe that if we improve, today, we
take chinese herbal treatments because they started it well. They make sure that they have
tried it, they are fit in it and so they are pushing it and so if we also do same, i think the
packaging too is important.
I: so, when we are talking about packaging, how do you understand it. Is it how the bottles
are designed?
Hmp10: exactly, we need to. Any drug that we are to look at it, it needs to look decent.
People have to say: ‘oh, this is a nice packaging’. The content must look presentable. The
outside must attract you to buy something so the packaging is also very key. I see this product
that, i mean, it is a tea, but the way the put it in a container nicely and cover it, when you look
at it, you will buy it.
I: so right now, i want us to, how about health insurance. The herbal medicine that you come
here to buy, are they covered by health insurance?
Hmp10: yes, they are covered. Yeah, when we come here, it is fully covered and i think if
they is a place that health insurance is fully working, then i think it is the herbal clinic and
when we come here, its only some of the things which is not covered but most of the things is
covered and i think that is a very good thing.
I: so, let me ask you this question. Do you think that education level will also affect or
influence the person to use the herbal medicine or not?
Hmp10: okay, so herbal medicine has become like traditional medicine and like i said
initially we used to prepare it in our houses so people see it as normal. In fact, i would say
that the educated people don’t even patronize it. That is what i see. They see that as for
herbal., that isx why i am talking about packaging but the same people buy those tttt, they
buy and they drink. So, i think that it’s a whole packaging. They should upgrade the facilities,
they should do the packaging nicely so that people, when they come, they have confident in
it. They want people to see that he is a minister but he is taking herbal treatment so it is the
facility that will encourage people to come. I haven’t done much research but i would say that
our mothers who haven’t much education patronize the herbal medicine than the educated
ones.
I: how about the income level of the individual? The individual’s income level.
Hmp10: the income level also sometimes determines. Let me tell you, if i go to the orthodox
clinic, i was there two to three weeks ago with a slight waist problem. I spent close to about
ghc 550.00, just for a visit, once. I went for review, because i am fine, i just paid something
small but how many people will be able to afford. So, i think the income level will determine
whether people will patronize the place or not. But i think that largely the herbal clinic,
especially this place, it is cheaper but if you go to other places, it is expensive. I have gone to
some herbal clinics and just the test alone and some drugs, i paid ghc 100.00, just a visit. So,
for the income level, if it is not a place like this it will be difficult to visit the place because of
the amount involved.
I: now, lets explore this. You know many people attach a lot of superstition to the use of
herbal medicine. What can you say about it or what have you heard about it?
Hmp10: interesting. That is one of the biggest challenges. For instance, you will see a very
nice herbal clinic and they tell you; “we do spiritual work” and doing physical work. I
sometimes find it to be strange. This is a herbal clinic, in fact the bible says that we should
eat the fruit and use the leaves to treat ourselves. I agree, but the fact of the matter is that the
moment you start adding spiritual things, because when you go to the orthodox, nobody will
tell you that come and spiritually, i will do that. So, superstition is number one. People
believe that herbal medicine or the herbal clinics, they have this spiritual thing attached to it
so in fact me for instance when i am going to any herbal clinic, i am very careful. The
moment you say that we will deal with this thing spiritually and give you the treatment as
well, i won’t be there and i think that most people also have the same challenge.
I: so, what do you think we can do about that.
Hmp10: we need to separate the spirituality from the herbal treatment. We need to separate
that. If truly we want to establish a good herbal clinic that people will patronize, we need to
separate that. We believe the spirituality but the fact of the matter is that when we bring
spirituality and the physical, i mean the herbal medicine together, people will not go there
because they will think rhat this place is not a good place to go. And you know, ghanaians,
most of us are christians and we don’t want to associate ourselves with things that we are not
too sure of because i have a friend who got very ill, in fact he was a member of the church of
pentecost and he was asked to visit a place. When he got there, he realized that it was a
shrine. He entered the place before he got to know that it was a shrine. He was trying to come
out, they told him that no way. The moment you have entered, whatever you want to do, we
have to do before you go. It was not a small issue. He had to struggle with them for a while
before they allowed him to go. So, if you tell me a story like this, it will be difficult for me to
go there. I think we should separate the spirituality from the herbal treatment for people to
know that this is herbal treatment. For instance, this place, when i come here. For instance, it
is normal when you go to the orthodox place, someone can say that; ‘lets pray’ that is normal.
But when you attach spirituality to it, i think that when you do that, people will not patronize
the herbal medicine.
I: so, let’s talk about your own religion. You being a christian, please what church do you
attend.
Hmp10: i attend the church of pentecost.
I: i want to ask, you being a christian, does your religious belief support the use of herbal
medicine or not?
Hmp10: very much. In fact, the founder of the church of pentecost, maclean, you know he
was brought by apostolic to ghana. And that time, they don’t take medicine. You know, the
white people, they came and had the malaria. The reason why they had a challenge with the
church was that he had the malaria and he was almost dying and they took him for treatment
at asamankese and when they came back, they brought some of the drugs
I: were they orthodox drugs or herbal?
Hmp10: they were orthodox drugs. When the other colleagues came to see it, they said no, he
has gone against the religion so he was actually excommunicated from the church. That is
how he was able to establish pentecost. So, we believe that divine healing is there but we
believe in herbal medicine and orthodox medicine. That is what the scripture says, so it is not
against our religion at all.
I: then how about our culture? Let’s say you being an ewe, your norms, your customs, your
taboos, they way you do things and live, does it support herbal medicine usage, if you can
Hmp10: it really supports, and i always say that, for example if you go to my village, a
typical village, any herbal medicine they give you, they are a process you need to go through.
Like the spirituality issue we are talking about. They know that the herbs will work but they
always want to attach the gods issues to it and that is the challenge. So, everything, they want
to associate it to the gods so they have directed them to do a, b, c, d for you and that is the
challenge. I believe that the god too work and you can see herbal treatment through
spirituality but the fact is that, the moment you attach it to spirituality or the gods, that is the
problem we have. They always want to associate it to the gods and it is a challenge.it is a big
challenge. So, they will give you paracetamol, we know it is normal paracetamol but they
will tell you that it is the gods. I have had that experience and i told them i won’t take it.
I: can you share that experience with us?
Hmp10: yes. I was sick and i went to my hometown. Immediately i got there, my uncle told
me that for the sickness, he wants to treat it for me. So he went for some few herbs and to my
surprise, he brought the chameleon, a dried chameleon. He told me that he wanted to grind.
After taking what you must chew, they will cut me and put it in my skin and i told them no. I
wont take the concoction and i wont take the treatment and as far as i am concerned, i don’t
have faith in them. So that have been the problem. Cultural issues are affecting our traditional
medicine.
I: what can you say about the practitioners. The herbalist, what can you say about them.
Hmp10: they are trying their best but some of them, i would say that they are in for money.
Most of them, their appearance alone shows that they are good person. You may not. You
may not have a good dressing but his appearance alone will not be encouraged you to buy.
Excuse me, some of them are not decent at all. They don’t dress neatly, for instance, you
can’t go to the orthodox side and you will see a medical doctor in any dress anyhow but you
will see our people selling medicine everywhere but they are not neatly dressed. It is a
challenge. That is the problem. You must appear good, in fact for the product you are selling,
you want all category of people to buy it but i believe there are some herbal clinics, they are
doing very good.
I: now, in talking to you, you have made some few recommendations. As we are getting to
the end, what else do you think that the government can do again. Whether government or
whoever or other stakeholders can do to increase the patronage of the herbal medicine?
Hmp10: the fact of the matter is that the government should take that responsibility. In fact,
when they are building hospitals, they should build orthodox medicines and herbal medicines
in every district or every region. They should be able to do that, you know very nice herbal
clinics. They should be able to marry the two: the herbal treatment and the orthodox
treatment. A medical doctor at the orthodox side should be able to refer somebody easily to
the herbal clinic but as it stands now, it is difficult to do it. The herbal people can refer
someday to the orthodox but the orthodox people, they find it difficult because they are not
too sure. So if the government should take that as a project and say that we want to push our
own as other countries have done, i believe that by building decent herbal clinics in every
region or every district. In fact, it should get closer to the people. And you know, everything
you know that it is government, people have faith in it. So, if government takes the lead by
establishing those clinics closer to us, i believe that, it won’t be long, it will overtake the
orthodox treatment.
I: thank you so much. But finally, what can you say about herbal medicines in general? With
your experience in it all this year.
Hmp10: i think generally, they are good but sometimes difficult to identify. Once awhile, you
may buy herbal medicine from the roadside or the pharmacy. You will not have faith in them,
but i remember i had that experience before. I bought one medicine from a lady who was
selling medicine. When i took it, in fact, every day, i have been looking for that medicine. I
used to have bitterness in my mouth but when i took that herbal treatment, i became okay. I
didn’t experience the bitterness as i used to experience. I took only one. So i think generally,
they are good, just that it is difficult to identify them that is why i said that if the clinics are
closer to us, we can say that i went to this clinic and was given abcd so when i get there, i
would be given the same thing or even more better one than that. So, i think generally, they
are good but difficult to identify
I: thanks so much and god bless you for your time. Later, we will talk more.