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TINYANGA: GIVE US COVID-19 PATIENTS

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TICANTFWINI - Traditional healers and witchdoctors (tinyanga) want government to give them some of the COVID-19 positive patients in order to try their concoctions on them.


The traditional healers have asked to be given three days to test their concoctions on the patients they expressed confidence that they could treat the patients’ symptoms.


The traditional doctors made this known during their meeting which was organised by the Witchdoctors Association. The meeting was held at Ticantfwini, Manzini yesterday and it was attended by about 20 traditional healers.


The main agenda item was to officially welcome the invitation of the World Health Organisation (WHO) that they should bring their traditional remedies for testing, which they believe could help in the fight against an array of illnesses, including COVID-19. 


In their meeting, which was graced by Judge Sipho Nkosi, representatives of the University of Eswatini (UNESWA) and Eswatini Medical Christian University (EMCU); the tinyanga made it clear that they felt neglected and were only recognised when there was a crisis in the country such as the one caused by the coronavirus pandemic.


Representatives


They said they would soon send representatives to the WHO offices to deliver their concoctions, and also appeal to the international organisation to convince government to allow them to see the COVID-19 positive patients in person. They said by so doing, they would be able to tell which mixture could be used to treat each patient. They argued that when they treated patients, they did not only depend on herbs as they also followed instructions from their ancestors.


They said it was in that regard that they attached importance in meeting the patients before they could start preparing their concoctions.


“We will also ask WHO to allow government to surrender some of the COVID-19 patients to us for at least three days and see if we cannot help them,” they said.


In fact, they sounded confident that they would be successful in treating the patients’ symptoms.
They said they had attended and successfully treated a number of people who had symptoms similar to those of COVID-19 in the past.


“Who knows, maybe these clients had COVID-19, but they were not aware because they had not tested,” the tinyanga added.
Also during their discussions, they argued that COVID-19 hit the country about three months ago, but still the number of confirmed cases was going up almost every day.  They said worldwide, there were almost five million confirmed cases, 1.8 million recoveries and over 300 000 deaths. They said this meant that the virus had killed thousands of people who were being taken care of by healthcare workers.


“It is time that we (tinyanga) are also given a chance to treat the COVID-19 patients,” they added.
One of the tinyanga said their worry was that the world was seemingly sidelining them because it was concerned about making money out of the outbreak of the virus, than fighting to defeat it.


He argued that as tinyanga, they were able to cure diseases like asthma, which doctors and nurses were failing to cure.
He said the reason people did not get the help they needed, especially from them, was that as tinyanga, they were not recognised by government.


“Even doctors and nurses look down upon us,” he said.
The inyanga added that their practice of consulting with ancestors was more like doctors who used, laboratories.
He said this was because after consulting with their ancestors, they could tell their clients everything about their lives, including sicknesses and what herbs could heal them.


Confidence


On that note, they emphasised that government should give them some COVID-19 patients and in a bid to show their confidence, they said after being given a chance, they were not afraid to compare the statistics (recoveries and deaths); before and after using the traditional remedies.


The meeting was attended by executive committee members of the Witchdoctors Association from the four regions of the country. Among their guests, was the inyanga from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Guensta Ikartachi, who made a public statement that they were ready to assist in the fight against COVID-19.


Meanwhile, Nkosingiphile ‘Uncle J’ Seyama, one of the people who recovered from COVID-19, said maybe it was time government considered engaging tinyanga to assist in the fight against the novel coronavirus.


He said this was because currently, there was no cure and it was all about treating the symptoms.
On that note, he said before the Europeans came to Africa, Africans, including emaSwati, had a way of dealing with sicknesses; using herbs. However, he said the only concern was that nowadays, there seemed to be certain beliefs attached to traditional healing.


“If this chance came when I was still a patient, I would have willingly given myself to the tinyanga, but only if they assure me that they will only use herbs, not certain things,” Seyama said.
He added that it was natural for Africans to try natural herbs like aloe when suffering from stomach-ache before visiting a healthcare facility.


Meanwhile, by the time of going to print yesterday, the Minister of Health, Lizzie Nkosi, had not responded to questions sent to her at 6:49pm. The questions were aimed at finding out whether or not government, especially the Ministry of Health, would consider giving the traditional doctors some COVID-19 positive patients to try their concoctions.

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