Traditional healers are the first to be called for help when illness
strikes the majority of South Africans. Their communities have faith
in their ability to cure or alleviate conditions managed by doctors, and
much more. A visit to such practitioners’ websites (they are up with
the latest advertising technology!) shows that they promise help with
providing more power, love, security or money, protection from evil
people and spirits, enhancing one’s sex life with penis enlargement
and vagina tightening spells, etc. Contemplating such claims, it is easy
to be dismissive of traditional healers. But in this issue of the SAMJ
Nompumelelo Mbatha and colleagues1 argue that the traditional
healers’ regulatory council, promised by an Act of Parliament,
should be established, followed by (or preferably preceded by) formal
recognition by employers of sick certificates issued by traditional
healers. Can matters be so simply resolved? What does this mean for
doctors and other formally recognised healthcare professionals, and
how to respond to such claims and social pressures?