Social Cluster orders Medical Council to reinstate integrative doctors 

Moroke Sekoboto 

PARLIAMENT’S Social Cluster Committee has ordered the Lesotho Medical, Dental and Pharmacy Council (LMDPC) to reinstate the registration of integrative medical practitioners immediately, sharply criticizing the council over its handling of the matter. 

The committee accused the council of acting unprofessionally and unfairly excluding members of the Integrative Medical Association of Lesotho (IMAL) from the national medical register, leaving dozens of practitioners unable to renew their practising licences. 

The dispute centres on doctors trained in integrative medicine, a discipline that combines conventional Western medicine with evidence-based complementary therapies such as electro muscle stimulation, dietary therapy, herbal medicine, massage therapy and physiotherapy. 

Appearing before the parliamentary committee this week, LMDPC president, Dr Makamole Lelimo, came under intense questioning over the council’s refusal to continue registering integrative medical practitioners. 

Social Cluster Committee chairperson, Mokhothu Makhalanyane, gave the council until tomorrow to restore the registration status that existed in 2024. 

“We are giving you a timeframe. By Friday, they must be practising as they were in 2024. You have to consult with the Ministry of Health to make amendments where they are needed, and we expect you to have done that by month-end so that when parliament reopens in September, it will be tabled by the minister,” Mr Makhalanyane said. 

Committee member, Reentseng Sehlabaka, also criticised the council for failing to provide documentary evidence to justify its position. 

“The council has been tackling this matter unprofessionally. It is not proper for you to come before parliament without tangible evidence. My understanding is your opinion comes from your mere understanding, not actually getting into the details. It is wrong to come without concrete information,” Mr Sehlabaka said. 

According to IMAL, its members have been legally registered under the Lesotho Integrative Medical Practitioners (LIMP) category since 2018 after completing specialised training in both conventional Western medicine and Chinese medicine abroad. 

However, IMAL president, Dr Teboho Bulane, told the committee that the introduction of a new online registration system resulted in the LIMP registration category being removed, effectively preventing practitioners from renewing their annual practising certificates. 

Dr Bulane argued that the removal had no legal basis because Parliament had never repealed any law recognising integrative medicine. 

He said the omission had left qualified Basotho practitioners unable to practise legally, placing their private clinics in uncertainty. 

IMAL further alleged that while Basotho integrative doctors had been excluded from public health facilities, foreign doctors, particularly Chinese practitioners, had initially been allowed to practise without registration. 

In a petition submitted to Parliament on 27 May, the association said it had exhausted all avenues to resolve the matter administratively after unsuccessful attempts to engage the Ministry of Health. 

“The Integrative Medical Association of Lesotho (IMAL) hereby respectfully submits this petition concerning the ongoing unresolved registration challenges affecting Integrative Medical Practitioners historically recognised and accommodated under the Lesotho Medical, Dental and Pharmacy Council through the LIMP registration category since 2018,” the petition states. 

“Integrative Medical Practitioners have, for several years, operated within recognised healthcare governance structures under the LIMP registration pathway without prior institutional exclusion from the registration framework.” 

The association further argued that the current impasse appeared to have resulted from administrative shortcomings rather than any legislative or policy decision. 

“Recent developments involving the online registration system resulted in exclusion of the LIMP registration category, thereby creating serious administrative and professional uncertainty affecting practitioners who had historically relied upon continuity of registration and professional recognition under existing structures,” the petition reads. 

Dr Bulane told lawmakers the association believed the problem stemmed from an administrative oversight rather than any lawful decision to discontinue the recognition of integrative medical practitioners. 

“Our grievances are the sidelining of Basotho Integrative Medical Doctors from renewing their annual registration certificates and the sidelining of qualified Basotho Integrative Medical Doctors from working in public health hospitals while allowing unregistered Chinese doctors. 

“Our expected outcomes are that all trained and qualified Basotho Integrative Medical Doctors should be allowed to renew their council certificates and licences for their facilities, and all trained and qualified Basotho Integrative Medical Doctors should be allowed to work in public health hospitals,” Dr Bulane said. 

Responding to the committee, Dr Lelimo defended the council’s position, arguing that there was no legal framework requiring the LMDPC to register integrative medical practitioners under a separate category. 

He also dismissed allegations that foreign practitioners were operating outside the law, saying Chinese medical doctors who had initially not been registered were now in the process of registering with the council. 

The Committee maintained that the matter required an urgent resolution and instructed the council to engage the Ministry of Health to restore the practitioners’ registration while any necessary legislative amendments were being processed. Parliament is expected to revisit the issue when it resumes sitting in September. 

The post Social Cluster orders Medical Council to reinstate integrative doctors  appeared first on Lesotho Times.