The former President of the Ghana Federation of Traditional Medicine (GHFTM), Dr. Anthony Normashie has advised members of the Federation, especially those operating in rural areas, to help educate people on the need to register with the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). He also counseled members of the Federation who had established clinics in the regions to attach laboratories and other vital equipment that would qualify them for accreditation as service providers of the Scheme. Dr. Normashie gave the advice when a group of Traditional Medical Practitioners from Pomadze in the Central Region, visited his Traditional Medical Research Institute and Clinic at Akim-Oworam, near Asamankese at the weekend. The visit afforded members of the group the opportunity to interact, share ideas and experiences with their former leader. Dr. Normashie, who is also the Director of the Oworam-based Health For All Clinic (HFAC), told the group that the success of the new national health policy was the collective responsibility of the stakeholders and not the workers of the Scheme alone. He said that the introduction of the NHIS posed greater challenge to Traditional Healthcare Providers to improve upon their work, so that they could play a more leading role in the dispensation of quality and affordable healthcare to the people, particularly the poor. Dr. Normashie called on chiefs, opinion leaders and other stakeholders in the West Akim District to initiate sensitisation programmes to enlighten the people on the numerous benefits they stand to gain if they registered with the West Akim District Mutual Health Insurance Scheme. He charged settler farmers in the district to ignore politicians and other unpatriotic self-seeking individuals who would approach them not to register with the NHIS. Dr. Normashie described people who politicise the NHIS as detractors of the country's socio-economic forward march and strongly cautioned members of the Ghana Federation of Traditional Medicine not to align themselves with such nation wreckers. He announced that the Health For All Clinic had handled over 800 stroke cases within the past ten years, adding that cases beyond his control were referred to Government Hospitals for further medical attention. He stressed the need for Traditional Medical Practitioners and herbalists to send their findings to the Centre for the Research Into Traditional Medicine at Akuapim-Mampong for effective research to get proper certification. Dr. Normashie advised those with the formula for vital plant and herbal medicines to allay the fears that would lose the patent rights of such properties if they submitted them for research. He said the centre was established to enhance Ghana's quest for better and reliable herbal and plant medicines for tropical diseases. It would also assist in the improvement of the country's health delivery system.Source GNA