Dr Crispo Musyangi, the founder of Musyangi Herbalist Clinic and Research Centre says that the world population is growing and the more it grows, with more human beings in the world, so are diseases and chronic ones like cancer, diabetes or resistant malaria are increased every day.
Different medications have been introduced to fight these chronic diseases, and lots of them contain chemicals, while as a doctor of herbal medicine he manages to conduct research concerning herbal medicine. He focuses on plants, fruits, roots, natural minerals and leaves, succeeding to get medications for many chronic diseases including cancer.
He wants to transform people's ideas that not just modern medicine can cure but there are mysteries in traditional medicine, where up to now his medicinal preparations can cure more than 40 diseases that are common to this country.
“I have had positive results in all of my medicines, treated many people and witnessed positive result with many of my patients. This makes strong, giving me strength to continue with this medical effort,” Dr Crispo stated.
His work does not relate with anything concerning formal education. But through inheritance and informal education obtained from his grandfather and grandmother who used to help people since he was a child, he saw how the medicines cured people, so he was on the path of enabling many others start using the traditional herbal medicine.
So he started by assisting his grandparents in preparing medications, accompanying them in the forest searching for roots and other tree products which are useful in treating this or that disease. From there on his experience started growing, partly because he had himself suffered various diseases in childhood, and traditional medicines are the ones used to cure him.
He also lays emphasis on reading and keeping up with studying different subjects targeted to increase his knowledge in traditional medicine. His success arises from cooperation he has with stakeholders in natural resources and tourism, as they recognise different types of trees by name.
Dr Crispo is trained in mechanics but turned away from the profession, opting to engage in traditional medicine since 2006, upon resigning from his job.
After completing secondary education in 1982 he went for further studies where he took a Technician’s Certificate course at Morogoro Technical College and then was employed for seven years.
The department he worked for soon became part of a company as privatisation set in, so he lost his job, in which case he also started to lose interest in formal employment. After seven years of employment he was released, so he decided to employ himself by using skills obtained from his grandparents.
“I decided to fight chronic diseases and finally succeeded because my medicines got good welcome in the society as many people suffering from chronic diseases were cured. This gave me satisfaction as a contribution to make life better by fighting our cardinal enemy, diseases,” he said in an interview.
Despite these achievements, Dr Musyangi discounts the idea that the work is easy, noting that there is no easy job in various activities. Because of the nature of the work some people do not understand the meaning of traditional medicine, especially from among religious fundamentalists. They are hostile to his medicine.
Another challenge in his job is capital, having a big market and most people needing his medication or a practitioner like himself, but due to low capital he has failed to fulfill what his clients need at one time or another.
“My capital is not big,” he says, pointing out that this means he often fails to provide services to clients if they become a bit numerous, while packaging and labeling is another difficulty to be sorted out.
He also takes seriously the challenges posed by the Africa Common Market and SADC free trade area that it expected to come about soon. He says if we want to win the market we must improve packaging and labeling as it is largely poor and expensive to a person like himself.
They key goals include reaching international markets, which calls for improving the way the medicine is disposed, with a ‘management by walking around’ (mbwa) techniques helping out.
He therefore wants to upgrades his medicine in international markets so that he can sell outside as much as he sells inside the country.
“My concern about Tanzania is to take greater interest in traditional medicine and use of herbs in general, as its benefits are not always understood. Using traditional medicine is good as it has no chemicals, but people must first abandon stereotypes about traditional herbs,” he asserted.
He does not leave out the government without saying a word, urging authorities through the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare to provide training concerning different diseases and traditional herbs to doctors like himself so that they conduct like hospital doctors.
“If possible, they can provide special space and rooms in hospitals from district to regional level, so that patients receive alternative medicine when they fail to heal using modern hospital medicine. It would also be a good thing to have an MP representing this sector in Parliament,” he said.
He similarly urges cooperation among traditional doctors in order to develop the traditional herbs sector into a proper department in the government.
3 comments:
His medicines are great. They once helped me.
He is the best
Me too
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