South Africa: Traditional Healers Say Referral System With Public Clinics Needs to Work Both Ways

What the report says

Traditional healers and public health advocates in South Africa are calling for a more workable referral system between traditional practitioners and government clinics, saying patients can be lost when the two systems do not communicate clearly. The issue was raised in reporting published by Health-e and distributed by AllAfrica, with comments from practitioners and health specialists in Cape Town and the Eastern Cape.

Nozuko Nkunzi, a traditional health practitioner from Lusikisiki, said government efforts to integrate traditional medicine into the public health system will have limited effect unless there are clear referral pathways, shared protocols and practical training. She also said some practitioners receive training on patient care and hygiene but lack the materials needed to apply it, and that negative attitudes at clinics can discourage patients from disclosing traditional remedies they are using.

Patrick Mdletshe of the KZN Civil Society Forum said there are examples of cooperation, including tuberculosis screening and referral initiatives, but he argued that feedback from clinics to traditional healers is often weak or absent. Dr Ntloleng Mabena said the two systems should be treated as complementary rather than competing, with better communication and respectful engagement on both sides. The Department of Health said fuller integration depends on approval of its draft African Traditional Medicine policy, which it says is intended to let conventional and traditional medicine coexist within a common framework.