A health practitioner has urged Ghanaians to desist from the dangerous practice of combining orthodox medicine and herbal concoctions for the treatment of malaria.
Mrs. Cecilia Odoom, a nurse in charge of Gomoa Potsin Community Health Planning Service, said the practice, which was aimed at speeding up the recovery time had become very common, but with adverse effects.
Mrs Odoom gave the caution at a refresher course for health volunteers from the Gomoa East District on the management of malaria at Gomoa Dominase in the Central Region.
She said the combination of different drugs could lead to complications that could be fatal.
Allies in Development Actions, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), organised the course with funds provided by National Malaria Control Programme and the Global Fund.
The volunteers are people who have been given informal training to complement trained personnel in primary health care.
Their main duties are house to house health education, monitoring pregnant women placed on sulphurdozine pyramethamine (SP) drugs, sale of insecticide treated bed-nets and re-treatment of the nets.
The volunteers were tutored on the application of artesunate amodiaquine, the recommended treatment for malaria; the use of the insecticide treated bed-nets and sponging a child with high temperature.
Mr. Kojo Aryiah, Gomoa East District Disease Control Officer, expressed concern that many Ghanaians refused to use the bed-nets because they claimed it produced heat.
He advised them to make a sound choice between coping with the so-called heat and contracting malaria by refusing to use the nets.
Mr. Daniel Duah, a volunteer from Okyereko CHPS zone, appealed to the Ghana Health Service to provide some allowance for health volunteers to encourage them to give off their best.
Mr. Emmanuel Amokwandoh, Executive Director of the NGO, appealed to the volunteers to utilise their knowledge to save lives.
He cautioned them against posing as qualified health personnel and asked them to refer any case they would come across to health authorities.