Namalo - Traditional Healer in Batak Toba Society, Indonesia: Knowledge of Drug and Traditional Treatment Process

Abstract

Currently the existence of Namalo which is a traditional healer (someone who treat residents with traditional ingredients) in the Toba Batak region, began to become extinct. Its image is synonymous with mystical rituals and is considered to deviate from the teachings of Christianity, making the Batak Toba community begin to abandon traditional medicine. However, currently traditional treatments that use herbal or plant-based ingredients become an important issue in the health world as an alternative or complementary to modern medicine. The existence of Namalo who has knowledge of traditional medicine becomes important and the mystical ritual is no longer practiced as part of the treatment. If the existence of Namalo is left extinct, then it can hamper the development of medication through medicinal plants, treatment processes and plant types used as traditional ingredients. Therefore, writing aimed to find out how Namalo’s knowledge as a form of local wisdom in traditional medicine becomes so important to be safeguarded in the development of research on medicines.