Rouge traditional healers to be prosecuted

Government will not hesitate to prosecute traditional healers who claim that they can treat HIV and advise people living with HIV to stop taking ARVs, health official has said.

Ministry of Health and Child Care deputy minister Musiiwa told parliament on Wednesday that there is no cue for HIV at the moment.

He was asked what is government stance on traditional healers who claim to cue the deadly virus.

 "The position of the Ministry is that at the present moment there is no cure for HIV/AIDS.

"It is a form of malpractice for traditional health practitioners to make false claims about the cure of HIV and advising clients to stop taking prescribed medicines and they should be prosecuted.

" Usually such practices are done by bogus traditional healers who are not registered by the Traditional Medical Practitioners Council" he said as quoted by the parliamentary gazette.

He added "We actually have Statutory Instruments that will prosecute Traditional Healers that advise patients who are on ARV's to discontinue them. 

"At the moment the Ministry has been sensitising the Traditional Healers as to the correct way to go about it and to make sure they do not advise patients to leave ART and over 400 of them have been educated to date. 

"All that they are doing at the moment would be maybe to give medical supplements".

Scores of traditional healers have been advising clients to stop taking ARV drugs.