The Ghana Alternative Medical Practitioners Association (GAMPA) has launched a major legal battle against the Traditional Medicine Practice Council (TMPC), accusing the state regulator of operating outside the law and unlawfully intimidating practitioners in Ghana’s fast-growing alternative medicine sector.
In a lawsuit filed on December 11, 2025, at the Superior Court of Judicature in Accra, GAMPA is challenging the Council’s authority to regulate complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), escalating a long-running dispute that has exposed deep cracks in Ghana’s healthcare regulatory framework.
The suit names the TMPC as first defendant and the Attorney General of Ghana as second defendant. At the center of the case is whether the Traditional Medicine Practice Act, 2000 (Act 575), legally empowers the Council to supervise medical systems that originate outside Ghana’s indigenous traditions.
GAMPA argues that the Council’s actions are unlawful, unconstitutional and ultra vires — beyond the powers granted to it by Parliament.
“Beyond Its Legal Mandate”
According to the Statement of Claim prepared by lawyer Michael Youri, the association is seeking court declarations that Act 575 was enacted strictly to regulate indigenous traditional medicine and does not extend to complementary and alternative medicine such as chiropractic, naturopathy, homeopathy, acupuncture, ayurveda and reflexology.
“These medical systems are not Ghanaian traditional medicine,” the association argues. “They originate from foreign scientific and cultural traditions and cannot lawfully fall under Act 575.”
The lawsuit further seeks a perpetual injunction to restrain the Council from licensing, inspecting, sanctioning or otherwise interfering in CAM practice across the country.
GAMPA alleges that the Council’s actions have resulted in harassment, threats, institutional intimidation and reputational damage to practitioners and training institutions operating legally in Ghana.
WHO Distinction Ignored
The association also references World Health Organization (WHO) policy documents, which clearly distinguish traditional medicine from complementary and alternative medicine and recommend separate, evidence-based regulatory frameworks for each.
Despite this global position, GAMPA contends that TMPC has continued to assert authority over CAM without legal backing.
Professor Nyarkotey Leads Legal Push
Leading the legal challenge is Professor Raphael Nyarkotey Obu, General Secretary of GAMPA and a naturopath who recently qualified as a barrister and solicitor in The Gambia.
In a public statement issued in February 2025, Professor Nyarkotey said his legal education exposed what he described as a fundamental misinterpretation of Act 575 by the Council.
“The Act was passed to regulate traditional medicine, not alternative medicine,” he stated. “Yet the TMPC has persistently imposed its authority on practitioners and institutions it has no legal power over.”
He further cited a 2010 Attorney-General’s opinion which reportedly clarified that Act 575 does not cover alternative medicine — a position he says the Council has consistently ignored.
Regulator in Turmoil
The legal action comes at a time of mounting instability within the Traditional Medicine Practice Council itself.
Since 2024, the Council has been plagued by administrative and leadership crises, particularly surrounding the office of the Registrar. In February 2025, tensions reportedly escalated to the level of National Security following complaints lodged by unidentified stakeholders.
In October 2025, the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) formally directed the Acting Registrar, Yakubu Tobor Yusuf, to justify his use of the academic title “Dr (MH),” stating that the commission had granted no approval for the designation.
The developments have further raised questions about governance, credibility and oversight at the Council.
Legislative Gap Acknowledged
Ironically, a proposed Traditional and Alternative Medicine Bill drafted in 2018 openly acknowledged that Act 575 did not cover alternative medicine.
The bill’s memorandum stated that Parliament, in 2000, enacted legislation solely to regulate traditional medicine and that new legislation was required to extend regulation to alternative practices.
Despite this admission, the bill has remained dormant for seven years, leaving what GAMPA describes as a dangerous regulatory vacuum.
Potential Sector-Wide Fallout
If the court rules in favor of GAMPA, the judgment would strip TMPC of authority over a large segment of healthcare practitioners and force government to establish a separate regulatory body for complementary and alternative medicine.
Legal analysts say the case could fundamentally reshape healthcare governance in Ghana and redefine the boundaries between indigenous healing systems and internationally practiced alternative medicine.
The Traditional Medicine Practice Council has yet to file its defense.
For now, the lawsuit exposes a sector mired in legal uncertainty, administrative controversy and institutional conflict — raising urgent questions about who truly regulates alternative healthcare in Ghana, and under what law.
