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Senegal |
HEALTH
An alliance of tradition and technology
It’s not every day that a traditional hospital gets «plugged in». At Fatick, about a hundred kilometres from Dakar, after 12 years existence, the Malango Centre, an experimental centre for traditional medicine, has been connected to the mains electricity supply. They have also installed solar-power equipment, generators and a computerised secretarial system. Isn’t this precisely the «alliance of tradition and technology»?
Apart from promoting traditional medicine, this combination contributes to the development of healthcare in the country. Given the success of the Malango Centre in Senegal and its fame abroad, another Centre of the same type is planned eventually, together with the early appointment of a conventional doctor, a director for the Centre, two pharmacists, an agronomist, a biologist, a bilingual secretary and a social assistant.
It’s a sign of the Malango Centre’s encouraging development. Initially, the Malango Centre’s foundation was seen as an opportunity to bring both Serer culture and its traditional medical practices once more into the limelight. (Editor’s note: One of Senegal’s ethnic groups). Both culture and traditional medical practices among the Serer people have valuable benefits to offer, plus people who believe in their traditions and who have knowledge to impart to others. This indicates that the Serer have their own civilisation and ways of dealing with illnesses. Now the time is ripe to develop this unique combination of traditional and conventional medical practice, and the opportunities presented have been eagerly taken up.
Success story
Following the satisfactory results achieved, Dr Eric Gbodossou -– founder of the Malango Centre -– was encouraged to reflect on the Centre’s success story. He made the following observation: «Throughout the world, there’s been an ever-increasing interest in traditional medicine during the past twenty-five years. Everyone’s coming to see us, and the northern hemisphere is recognising the deficiencies and limitations of its own knowledge. Consequently, it’s turning more and more towards traditional medicine. African civilisation has the potential to master many different areas of knowledge and understanding. Traditional therapy can therefore be seen as a “complement to modern medicine”».
Proof of this lies in the visit made to the Centre by medical colleagues from Austria and the United States, and there’s an on-going stream of consistent support and encouragement.
The Malango Centre, under its medical director Dr. Eric Gbodossou, has branches in Atlanta (USA), Uganda, Cameroon and Benin. The work in these other Centres is carried out under the aegis of the non-governmental organisation, PROMETRA. Three years ago, the first ever world conference on traditional medicine took place in Dakar, Senegal. This event was both historic and significant.
It should be noted that 85% of Senegalese use healthcare services provided by traditional healers. Large numbers of patients come to Malango from Senegal and elsewhere. Malango has a good reputation and people in the sub-region refer to the quality of care imparted. According to internationally famous researchers at the Universities of Morehouse (Atlanta) and Tulane (New Orleans), the lowest cure-rate would be 65%, and the highest 90%. They also note a 90% quantifiable improvement, which no other hospital in the world can achieve.
At minimum cost, with the maximum of care
In Malango, the healers say that they can «care for all the illnesses that a modern doctor can treat. However, the sick who cannot be treated at Malango are sent to conventional hospitals». Some 300 healers, coming from 168 local villages, work at the Centre. The selection process is rigorous, and prospective staff are tested for their skills. Patients have to pay about 200 CFA francs as an admittance fee and a consultation costs around 3,000 CFA francs. Patient can be treated here at minimum cost, with the maximum of care.
Once a patient is admitted to a traditional hospital, he/she is first of all examined by a conventional doctor who then refers the patient to the appropriate healer. The healer has a surgery within the hospital itself. There are many testimonials from people who were desperate and who found «healing, courage, and hope» in the hospital. The senior traditional healer explains: «God does not send any sickness for which he does not also provide a cure. It is only the person whose time one earth is up, who is not healed here». With the support of the Senegalese Minister for Scientific Research and an international scientific committee, other traditional health projects dealing with such illnesses as diabetes, viral hepatitis and HIV/AIDS, are being planned.
At Malango, patients see the traditional healers as «demi-gods, miracle-workers». They have «supernatural powers and mystical gifts» that allow them to deal with complicated cases of sorcery. It should also be noted, incidentally, that their annual public clairvoyance sessions, the «khoye», are famous and very popular. Extraordinary predictions are made, to say the least, since they are based to a large extent on Nostradamus...
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