'Mid-wives can handle normal births'

Speaking at the International Traditional Healers Conference on “Promotion of Traditional Medicine for Sustainable Healthcare” organised by Foundation for Revitalisation of Local Health Traditions (FRLHT), he said that mid-wives are traditional healers’ who can handle a normal delivery at home where even the mother is comfortable. The Government must involve these mid-wives in their health mission to help these groups.  There are one million healers in India including six lakh folk healers using 6,200 species of medicinal plants, he informed.

P K Jha, Director (Schemes), Department of AYUSH, Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, said that despite modern technological innovations in healthcare, according to WHO, 60-80 per cent of the world’s population still depend on folk health practices for common ailments.

Inaugurating the event, Medical Education Minister Ramachandra Gowda said that  traditional folk healers who have indigenous cure for health problems need to be encouraged. More than 200 healers from 18 countries took part in the conference.