Herbalists want sample approval fees cut

The Tanzania Herbalist Council has appealed to the government to lower medicine sample registration and approval charges by the Tanzania Food and Drugs Authority (TFDA), saying they are too costly for them.

The council said that they were instructed to pay to TFDA $400 per one medicine sample for approval, which was too high for most of them to afford.

Speaking to journalists in Dar es Salaam yesterday, the council’s chairman, Shaka Mohamed, urged the government to think about their plight and revise the fees.

“$ 400 is a very big amount of money, especially for a normal Tanzanian like most of the herbalists…we do not have such a big amount of money,” he said.

Mohamed wanted the government to work on this seriously, otherwise a big number of herbalists will fail to register their samples.

However, he commended the government for banning all public advertisements on herbal medicine through the media which were not approved by the council in advance.

According to Mohamed, before the government directive on registration there was an influx of unregistered herbalists who were using media outlets to advertise their services without following the laid procedure.

He was also of the view that, if the government did not double efforts to ensure the directive was adhered to, the situation would revert to its former days.

He urged the government to have confidence in the role herbalists can play in improving the health of the people.

Mid this month, the government issued a three-month ultimatum to herbalists in towns and 6 months for those in rural areas to register their herbal clinics and samples.

Issuing the directive, the Minister of Health, Community Development, Gender, the Elderly and Children, Ummy Mwalimu, said any medicine administered to the people should receive prior approval from agents of the Chief Government Chemist and the Tanzania Food and Drugs Authority (TFDA).

According to the minister, no one would be allowed to offer any services without undergoing proper registration.

The minister also banned public advertisements on herbal medicines through the media unless they had been approved by the council with effect from January 15, this year.

“The ministry would like to remind media outlets, especially television and radio stations, as well as newspapers, to adhere to the law regulating alternative health practitioners which prohibits all advertisements which were yet to receive approval from the council,” read the notice in part.

The ministry also banned any form of educational campaigns on herbal clinics through the media or public rallies and that no traditional healer would be allowed to use any equipment that has not been approved by TFDA.

The ban comes amid concerns that most patients who have been visiting herbal clinics were being subjected to questionable diagnostic equipment.

SOURCE: GUARDIAN ON SUNDAY