The Eastern Regional branch of the Ghana Federation of Traditional Medicine Practitioners Associations (GHAFTRAM) has appealed to President John Agyekum Kufuor to create a separate Ministry to oversee traditional and alternative medicine practice in the country.

In a petition to the President passed by the Regional Executive Council of the GHAFTRAM at Koforidua, it cited among other reasons, the need to promote, develop and manufacture quality herbal drugs for diseases "which orthodox medical practitioners termed as incurable for our dying sisters and brothers in the country and for export".

The petition was signed by the Regional Chairman, Tr. Dr Haruna Liman and Tr. Dr. P. P. Larbie, Regional Secretary, and copied to the Minister of Health, the Speaker of Parliament, the Majority and Minority Leaders in Parliament and the Media.

It cited Japan, Korea and China, as being among countries that the Federation claimed, were able to develop their herbal medicine through the collaboration between the herbalists and the governments leading to high export of herbal drugs.

"Ghana too can add value to our raw materials in this field to cut down drastically, the huge expenditure on imported orthodox drugs while increasing our foreign exchange earnings," the petition stated.

On the search for a cure for AIDS, the petition complained that the Ministry of Health was allegedly frustrating efforts by two leading members of the Federation in the region, who claimed to possess herbal cure for the disease and had requested for HIV positive and AIDS patients for them to prove the efficacy of their herbs.

It also alleged that the Ministry had refused to allocate funds for the running of the GHAFTRAM and the setting up of Traditional Medicine Practice Council in line with a government directive in 1999 when the Federation was placed under the Minister of Health with Nana Agyen Tutu as a Deputy Minister to oversee the sector.

The petition noted that unemployment would be reduced through the establishment of large-scale plantations of medicinal plants in the regions by the herbal associations and research institutions for the production of herbal drugs by industrial firms.