Lyell McEwin hospital in Adelaide has employed Aboriginal healers (known as Ngangkari) to assist with treatment of Indigenous patients alongside doctors.
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The news comes via the ABC, who say that the program will see healers tap into 60,000 years of traditional medicine, working alongside doctors and nurses at the hospital. The staff are labelling the treatment as “complementary”, coupling traditional Aboriginal treatment with Western medicine practices.
The practice involves using touch, breath and bush medicine to focus on healing a person’s spirit, with founding and chief executive officer of Lyell McEwin hospital, Dr Francesca Panzironi saying the inclusion of Ngangkari provides a sense of culture for Indigenous patients in the hospital.
“The healers use methods including Pampuni (healing touch), Mapampa (blowing) and Marali (spiritual healing and bush medicines) to complement mainstream treatment. Patients say things like, ‘I felt the energy had left me’. After seeing a Ngangkari, they say they feel better, like their spirit has returned.”
According to the ABC, traditional healers are determined by their bloodline, with most being from the APY Lands in remote South Australia, as well as parts of central Australia. It’s believed they inherit their healing powers.
They interviewed Narungga Country woman and cancer survivor Roslyn Weetra, who praised Ngangkari treatment in relation to her own healing.
“It gave me a strength that I didn’t know I had to fight the disease — the cancer — alongside the medical treatment.”
They also spoke to a Dr Simon Jenkins, who works at Lyell McEwin. He acknowledged the move to include traditional healers as one that would start to close the gap when it comes to accessible healthcare for Indigenous Australians.
“If you don’t address the spirit of the Aboriginal people in the healing process then they are far less likely to engage in the healthcare system. A simple phone call and we’ll be able to get someone in to help them with their spiritual healing.”
