The Ghana Federation of Traditional Medicine Practitioners Associations (GHAFTRAM) has cautioned unauthorised entities that organized award ceremonies for illegal herbal medicine practitioners to desist from the act.

A statement from the Federation to the Ghana News Agency signed by its General Secretary, Nana Kwadwo Obiri, explained that GHAFTRAM had taken note of illegal herbal medicine awards organised by unauthorized entities in the country without recourse to law and the recognised institutions for the past one and half years.

The statement indicated that the Awards was given to the various herbal medicine practitioners under various categories with unknown criteria.
It said the platform was also used to advertise services and products which do not conform to standards of the Food and Drugs Authority.

“Awards are to recognise the time, dedication and efforts herbal practitioners invest in the industry; however, these awards are meant for monetary purposes and to deceive the public into believing in their activities,” the statement said.

GHAFTRAM, according to the statement, was not pleased with the development and advised those behind the activities to desist from it immediately.

It urged members of GHAFTRAM to abstain from and disregard any conferences, exhibition and award events organised by unknown persons and organisations without the consent of the Federation.

“We appreciate and embrace the good services rendered by our practitioners. We, however, will never allow those elements whose sole interest is to ‘suck’ money from our members…,” it said.

GHAFTRAM said it welcomes support from partners to promote the herbal industry, however, it would not tolerate any form of indiscipline in that regard.

The statement sought to remind Regional Executives to consult the National Secretariat for advice and approval before any programme of that sort takes place in their various regions.

It also asked members to insist that the organisers of such programmes contact the National Secretariat for deliberations and approval.