Rwanda’s Ministry of Health (MINISANTE) announced it is  separating professional traditional healers from unauthorized public deceivers. The goal is to identify practitioners who can officially complement modern medicine.

This comes after complaints from some traditional healers, urging the government to pass a long-pending law that would regulate their profession and allow them to operate openly.

Speaking before Parliament this Thursday, the Minister of Health, Dr. Sabin Nsanzimana, alongside the Prime Minister, explained that all traditional healers had previously been suspended after it was found that many were misleading people—claiming they could bring luck for them or recover stolen property.

Dr. Nsanzimana also noted that some practitioners mix modern pharmaceuticals with herbal medecine, which can cause serious harm to patients.

“We carried out something like a study and found around 5,000 people in the country claiming to be traditional healers. However, initial findings show that nearly 80% are not actually treating patients—most are simply running businesses,” Dr Nsanzimana said.

“They claim to treat infertility, recover stolen items, and cure all diseases using a single remedy… there is a lot of confusion and deception. We are still analyzing the situation to identify the few who are legitimate, so their practices and medicines can be properly tested,” he added.

The Minister further explained that tests conducted by the Rwanda FDA found serious issues in many traditional remedies, including the presence of harmful substances like heavy metals mixed with herbs, which could even be fatal.

“That is why we are continuing to evaluate traditional medicine—separating fraudulent, profit-driven practices from those that are genuinely safe and effective,” he said.

It has now been over three years since the association of traditional healers was suspended for these reasons. However, some practitioners continue to appeal, arguing that public health is suffering because modern medicine cannot treat certain conditions.

Gertrude Nyirahabineza, a former representative of the association in Rwanda, told KIGALIINFO in a phone interview that authorities should not shut down the traditional healing profession, as it has historically played a clear complementary role to modern medicine.

“Traditional medicine has stopped functioning openly; people are working in hiding. Some are exploiting others without actually treating them, and they undermine those who genuinely practice herbal medicine—those who treat conditions like mental illness, parasites, and other difficult diseases,” she said.

Nyirahabineza, who helped draft the proposed law on traditional medicine, said it was intended to allow traditional and modern medicine to complement each other, especially since modern medicine cannot cure certain illnesses.

“Traditional medicine has always existed. Western medicine developed by taking traditional remedies and adding chemicals. We are not against that—it’s progress. But they should not eliminate traditional healing. Instead, they should assess and approve those who are qualified to use the valuable medicinal plants we have in Rwanda.”

She also claimed that malaria, which continues to claim lives, can be treated with a plant locally known as umunyuragisaka, which is widely available in Rwanda.

Nyirahabineza urged authorities to visit practitioners and evaluate their work, noting that some had even received government sponsorship to study traditional medicine in China—learning how remedies are prepared, cultivated, and processed—yet are still not allowed to practice.

She emphasized that those discrediting the profession are mainly frauds who claim to treat infertility or rely on rituals and unverified practices. She distinguished them from trained practitioners who strictly use plant-based remedies without mixing them with chemicals or relying on spiritual rituals.

According to her, treating patients with plants is comparable to feeding them vegetables, whereas modern pharmaceuticals often have side effects due to their chemical composition—and she argued that they are a major contributor to non-communicable diseases.