SUPERSTITIOUS BELIEF OF HOT ROD TREATMENT IN JHARKHAND
Children with abnormal bellies,characteristics of malnutrition and disease in Jharkhand have been routinely treated by plunging the hot iron rod into their sides. It is believe that it will cure all the stomach ailments by the poverty-stricken tribal parents.
The belief is that children with the protruding belly has worms which can be killed by plunging a red hot iron through the sides of stomach.
According to a person, who has done this treatment when he was just three told that, it is believed that the more a child cries and screams during this, more it kills the germs.
Ravi Tuddu, a Santhal tribesman and head of Miritand village told that they have firm faith in this method of treatment.
Sagen Kisku, 7 from Mirgitand, is one of the several children who survived the hot rods. He could not remember when he got the big scar on his stomach. It still hurts, he said.
It’s a superstition found among various tribal sects,said regional Deputy Director, health Dr Shiv Shankar Birua.
Protruding bellies is a characteristic of patients suffering from Malaria, Kalaazar, Blood Cancer, or Typhoid, said Dr Birua. They can be cured if rushed to doctors on time.
The 33 families of Mirgitand can’t do that. The nearest PHC is 35 km southwest of the village. There is no public transport, so Mirgitand’s people never consider going there.
Post-office worker Manoranjan Mahato (45) in Kesarpur, a village near Mirgitand, explained how he lost his infant son to hot-rods five years ago.
The practice in the village cannot be wiped out fully until the facilities for health-care are free or at reasonable prices.
