IF WE are not saved by God, we will all die of a plague of 'doctors' and healthcare clinics that have mushroomed all over the place.

There was a time when a person calling himself, or recognised, as a medical doctor, was someone who had undertaken a course of study in a medical school, and had properly been certified to practise the so-called 'orthodox' medicine.

Whether in private practice, or in state employment, you recognised him by his short-sleeved white coat, his stethoscope hanging round his neck, and his sphygmomanometer (or sphyg for short).

He (or she) worked in a consulting room. He asked his patient (the patient is now known as a client) questions and, where necessary, conducted tests or called for a laboratory examination.

He reached certain conclusions which he called a diagnosis. Based on his diagnosis, he could tell the patient that there was nothing wrong with him, or prescribe a course of treatment, which could be chemotherapy, radio therapy, physiotherapy, hydrotherapy, surgery, etc.

The 'orthodox' doctor had a "poor cousin" in the shape of the village herbalist, who did not use the methods of the orthodox medical practitioner to arrive at a diagnosis.

In fact, the village herbalist did not 'practice' full time. He did something else, more likely farming, and only used his knowledge of the medical properties of certain herbs, roots, or the bark of a tree, to treat the sick who went to him.

The herbalists I knew, as I grew in my father's village of Adansi Brofoyedru, did not charge any standard fees. You merely paid a little something, and only went back to 'thank' him, by offering a financial token or eggs and a fowl.

For all practical purposes, the era of the village herbalist seems to have passed. In his place, are all kinds of 'doctors' who have opened herbal clinics all over the country. Many of them have given themselves the honorific title of "Doctor,' though they do not appear to have applied themselves to any course of medical studies as we know it.

Some wear white coats, use stethoscopes, and even the sphyg. In the various radio and television advertisements, a number of them make you believe that they also carry out scientific examinations of their patients, which include laboratory examinations.

They even tell you that they ask patients to go for orthodox medical examination before they (patients) report for treatment.

As might be expected, almost all of them manufacturer the medicines they give to the patients. These medicines, you will be told, are exclusively from leaves, tree barks and roots.

Some sell these medicines in shops, while others say that they sell the medicines only within their clinics, in order to avoid faking by unscrupulous persons.

Orthodox medicine does not claim to have a panacea to every kind of disease in the world. Some of these herbal doctors are not so modest. In their self-promotional advertisements, they claim to be able to have a cure for any disease that has afflicted human beings from time memorial.

They cure piles, typhoid fever, such menstrual problems and painful menstruation, excessive menstrual bleeding, menstrual bleeding of short duration, infertility in women, and impotence in men.

The list includes waist pains, stomach problems, eye diseases, poor blood circulation, etc. Indeed, the herbal clinic that has no cure for impotence and infertility is yet to be established.

Orthodox medicine uses medical equipment beyond the sphyg and the stethoscope. But, if you want to see a demonstration of medical equipment magic, then visit an herbal clinic.

These days, some of them claim to have machines that can detect disease, merely by having a piece of finger nail, your wrist-watch worn over a certain period of time, say within twenty-four hours.

With some of these machines, all you do is put your thumb on something, and a television monitor supposedly reveals your internal organs and zeroes in on the location of your illness.

There are machines that supposedly detoxify, and you can supposedly see the impurities in the bowl of water into which you have to put both feet, wrapped round a piece of equipment.

There are machines that massage your body and stop when the problem is located. Treatment is then prescribed, as simple as that. Anytime the proprietors of these clinics have been asked about charges, they have tended to answer as if treatment is virtually free. However, those who have had to attend these clinics, mention large sums charged.

How efficacious is the treatment? Not everyone gets a cure, though the impression created is that no one goes to any of these clinics and returns home without a cure.

As I listen to them on radio, or watch them on television, I derive a great deal of amusement. Make no mistake. I do not believe that we are dealing with a whole battalion of quacks. After all, there is quackery in so-called orthodox medicine. However, I am truly skeptical about the claims made by some of these people, with their panacea for every disease in the world, including HIV/AIDS.

What should also cause concern are the claims by certain persons pushing the claims about the efficacy of certain preparations.

The companies that manufacturer these preparations, and those selling them, do not say that the preparations are drugs for the treatment of diseases, but rather very efficacious food supplements for the body.

I dare not mention names for fear that I may be doing free advertisements for these companies, or for fear of being charged with defamation.

But they are all over the place, and the preparations are very expensive. The promoters also have machines to frighten you into buying these preparations that supposedly build your body, do detoxification and give you boundless energy.

This is certainly the Age of Medical Freedom in this country. You have your choice of orthodox medical treatment, herbal treatment that has taken on the semblance of orthodoxy, homoeopathy, chiropractic, Chinese acupuncture, etc.

I nearly forgot to mention faith healing, in which it is claimed that, through prayers, such afflictions as blindness, deafness, barrenness, impotence, and physical disability, can disappear.

Great days are here.