The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Doctors are urging the Uganda Medical and Dental Practitioners’ Council to put in place a mechanism or guidelines that can enable them to advertise their services.
Dr Fredrick Nelson Nakwagala, a Senior Health Researcher and head of the Directorate of Medicine at Mulago hospital says a lot of people are being duped into making wrong treatment choices because they are unaware about where to find authentic services.
Dr Nakwagala, who acknowledges that professional conduct bars them from canvassing for patients says trends have changed and that the continuous pressure from herbalists is putting patients in danger.
He recommends that the medical council can vet and monitor the advertisement put out by doctors either through radio, TV or Newspaper adverts and billboards to avoid misleading the public and causing the mess seen when herbalists advertise services that they cannot really offer.
Michael Mutyaba, the Manager Traditional Medicines and Healthcare Products at the National Drug Authority said already some dealers in convectional medicines have approached them to have their adverts for products to be approved.
What they look out for in any advert according to him include exaggerations in what the medicine can treat and if the name of the product is not misleading. He says that the screening process that the authority recently came up with is followed by both dealers in herbal and conventional medicines.
He, however, noted that advertising of medical services should be a mandate of the council since they are mandated to license doctors to practice.
But, Uganda Radio Network observes that even before the council puts in place these guidelines, some health professionals are already advertising from offering mental health services to different tests like DNA and dental services.
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