Rourkela: Superstitious practices continue to haunt remote villages in rural Odisha with one such case reported from Sundargarh district Monday.
In yet another instance of harmful traditional practices, a seven-year-old boy of a slum in Biramitrapur block of Sundargarh district was branded with a hot iron rod in a bid to cure his anaemia.
The boy suffered severe burn injuries and was left battling for life. Family members rescued him after his condition worsened and rushed him to Ispat General Hospital (IGH) in a critical condition.
According to sources, the minor, son of a daily wager identified as Habel Bage was suffering from blood deficiency known as anaemia for the last couple of days. With financial constraints and illiteracy, Bage approached a quack to cure his son.
On being approached, the quick melted a hot iron and branded at least 22 times on the boy’s belly to cure him.
Later, the boy was rushed to a nearby government hospital where doctors said his health condition is critical and kept him under observation, sources said. The child has 22 injuries around his stomach, medical authorities said adding his condition was improving after treatment.
Notably, branding refers to a traditional practice of creating ‘therapeutic’ burns with hot iron rods over the skin in order to treat various diseases.
Though the Health Department has been undertaking awareness drive regularly, there is no let-up in branding cases. In 50 per cent of such cases, the victims are newborns and minor children. Several traditional healers and black magicians were arrested in connection with these cases.
A majority of branding cases has been reported from tribal-dominated hamlets. Child branding is still being practised as the healing procedure for the ailing children. Many people believe that the local quacks have the power to cure babies from all ailments, and sometimes even lose their children in the process.
Such practices prevail in some districts even though many awareness camps have been organised by the state government and other social organisations.
PNN
