Medical care in the Asante Empire consisted in the use of herbal medicines. 19th century visitors to Asante documented various plants used for preparing medicine. Since the 18th century, Muslims from the northern regions of modern Ghana, settled in Kumasi where they were incorporated into the physician class. In the urban areas of the empire, medical practitioners were centralised, but the upper class was more likely to receive access to quality health care. Diseases common in the region included yaws and syphilis. Non herbal practices ranging from surgery to bone-setting were available.
Background
Sources Documentation on Asante diseases and health care include the work of Henry Tedlie, who was a physician and part of Bowdich's diplomatic mission to Kumasi in 1817. While in Kumasi, Tedlie recorded twenty-seven diseases in Asante as well as thirty-seven plants used as cures. After his death, Tedlie's work was published in 1819 by Bowdich with the aid of botanist Robert Brown.
Diseases
Smallpox and dysentery was also problematic during military campaigns. In the 19th century, the Asante washed and bathed daily, which Scholar D. Maier states to have helped prevent the spread of tick, louse and fecal-borne diseases.
Organization Physicians were known as and they trained in herbalism. Spiritual or paranormal diseases on the other hand were attended by the . Training for expertise in medicine was noted by John Beecham who wrote in the mid-19th century:
In urban Asante, all physicians were organized and specialized under the . This was described by Prempeh I in a 1928 letter of explanation to the colonial District Commissioner of Kumasi as; "the pharmacology where we had well trained and qualified physicians in charge whose duty was to attend to the sick and injured." The head of this office was the who served as the native doctor of the state and doctor of the . It was during the reign of Opoku Ware I where "all fetish priests and medicine men in the state were requested to serve the King under the Nsumankwahene."
During the reign of Osei Kwame, Muslim settlers from northern Ghana were incorporated into the Nsumakwaafo or physicians of Kumasi. The Muslim populace in Kumasi also provided charms, amulets and prayers that were believed to cure diseases. In the early 19th century, a Muslim staff were documented to have been tasked in recording the casualties of the Asante army.
Tedlie also wrote on the disparity of access to medical care as the higher class were more likely to receive skilled medical attention. According to scholar Donna Maier, preventive measures were taken as a Public Works Department existed under the stool called . This department was responsible for cleaning the streets of Kumasi daily and it ensured that the people had kept their compounds clean and weeded.
Practices Herbal medicine was applied to treat sprains, constipation, veneral disease, external inflammation, ophthalmia, boils and acute diarrhea. Variolation in Asante was recorded in 1817. To inoculate against smallpox, Bowdich wrote;
Prionsers of war were rejected if they had the disease. There were check points at Asante borders that prevented people from progressing to Asante if they exhibited signs of smallpox. Those who discovered signs after crossing the borders were prevented from entering Kumasi and quarantined in remote villages.
There is evidence from the 19th century that the Asante practiced bone-setting. A fracture of an arm or leg was bound with splints. Various surgical practices were familiar in the empire. Muslim doctors in Asante practiced bleeding, lancing, cupping and they made use of the hot iron.
Physicians followed the army and they cared for the wounded. The Asante were noted for their inability to heal extreme gunshot wounds by early 19th century writers like Bowdich and Tedlie.
Herbal medicine Tedlie's 1817 records on thirty-seven Asante medicinal plants are reviewed in McCaskie (2017) +Asante Herbal MedicinesBotanical nameTwi name in 1817UsesChrysanthellum procubensCutturasuhDecoction for purgative.FicusAdumbaBark and fruit are pounded with a plant called by the Asante and further boiled in fish soup to cause abortion.Gloriosa superbaKoofoobahMixed with Mallguetta pepper to apply on a sprained ancle.Cupania or TrichiliaTandooruePounded and boiled with Mallaguetta pepper for pain in bellySterculia acuminataBisseyChewed on journeys to prevent hungerBlighia sapidaAttuehAnti-veneralRicinus CommunisNo Asante name given. McCaskie suggests the modern Not used as a medicine, although McCaskie states its modern uses include application on rashes and as purgativesTwo species of LeucasApooderIts leaves are bruised and mixed with lime-juice to be applied on inflammationsA species of UrticaHooghongBruised and mixed with chalk to correct stomach acidity and heartburn in pregnant womenHeliotropium indicumAccocottocotorawahSnuffed up the nostrils to treat severe headach. Smoke of the plant is also inhaled.Acalypha ciliataCroweraBruised with lesser cardamom seed and rubbed on chest or side pains.A species of VitisEnminimThe juice of the leaves is dropped into eyes affected with ophthalmiaLeptanthus?SecocoPounded with lime-juice and rubbed on body to treat itch.Likely Ocimun canum Sims and O. gratissimumAmmoJuice is applied to cuts and bruisesPossibly a PiperPeteyLeaves are pounded and applied as plaister on inflammatory swellings and boilslaportea ovalifolia?AbromotomeBruised leaves are used to treat boilsSyngenesious plant related to CacaliaYangkomproPounded leaves are applied to cuts and contusions.Musanga cecropioidesOeduemaBoiled in soup and used as an emmenagogue.Possibly AneilemaSemeneyPounded leaves are used to treat boils and pusSterculiaWowwahInner bark is mixed with Mallaguetta pepper and drank for colic and stomach painsHilleria latifolia?AnafranakooBruised leaves are used to treat boils and inflammatory swellingLeea SambucinaKattacaibenDecoction of leaves is drank every morning by pregnant women to treat uneasiness in the abdomenSpecies of Piper related to umbellatumAserumbdrueLeaves are used in soup to cure belly swellingsPossibly Dracaena manniiOcisseereeBark of tree is used to stop dysentery and diarrhoeaPaullinia AfricanaGingangTreat pain in the side Possibly Zingiber officianaleCudeyakooPounded leaves and stalk are applied to eruptions on head. Also mixed with lime-juice to treat yaws.(Unkonwn) and Hedysari speciesAffeuah and Nuinnuerafuh Leaves mixed and rubbed on body and limb painsPaullinia AfricanaAdummahTreat dysentery Probably MenispermumTointinneyChewed with Mallaguetta pepper to cure coughLeguminous plant, likely a RobiniaApusseyBark is pounded with Mallaguetta pepper to treat headacheLikely Dioclea reflexaThuguamahBark is pounded and drank in palm wine with Mallaguetta pepper, to cure belly pains.Unknown toadstoolConkknoneyFunction is unknown but Tedlie writes that it is used with Mallaguetta pepper and lime-juice.Brillantaisia owariensisSuetinneyDecotion of leaves drank to cure belly pain.Tetandra MonogyniaSoominnaBruised with lime-juice to treat cough.Scoparia dulcisThatthaJuice is dropped into ears when pained.Melia azedarachAqueyLeave decoction is used with palm wine as a corroborant.Mussaenda fulgensDammaramFunction not stated. McCaskie gives the modern uses for cough treatment and elephantiasis.
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