Information reaching this paper hint that the fast rate of the existence of private medical herbalists is fast becoming detrimental to the country's health sector, the Daily Observer can reveal.

Sources close to the Medical Research Council (MRC), who spoke to the Daily Observer on condition of anonymity said that the Research Council has detected many cases where patients who underwent such treatments had developed serious complications with regards to their health status, noting that their illness get even worst than before they take the medications.

"The fast increment of so-called traditional herbalists is alarming and it needs urgent attention. People hardly listen to private radio stations without hearing public notices of a new traditional healer, claiming to cure all kinds of diseases. Some of these so-called traditional healers are only doing the treatment for the sake of collecting money from innocent, poor patients. Saddest of all, the patients never get cured and their illnesses aggravate: from the frying pan into the fire,'' posited one of the furiously sounding sources.

"We know about the existence of genuine herbalists", put in another speaker, "notably, President Jammeh, our Head of State, whose treatment speaks for itself. So these so-called herbalists need to be flushed away immediately for the safety of the people,'' she stressed.

However, our sources stressed the needs for the creation of an effective Commission of Traditional Medical Herbalists so as to control the unfortunate trend.

This Commission, according to our sources, will be tasked with the responsibilities of identification and accreditations of genuine traditional healers for health safety.

The Commission shall also be responsible to screen herbalists and categorise the type of disease or ailment a particular herbalist can treat, base on their knowledge.

The Commission shall be able to verify types of herbal medicines used for the treatment of a particular disease or ailment,'' they suggested, adding that if this is done, the public would be salvaged from the hands of "fake" and unscrupulous herbal doctors.

However, our sources finally warned patients who want to undergo such treatment to be mindful as to whom they go to.