Newborn baby branded 40 times with a hot knife by Indian tantric healer to cure pneumonia
A two-month-old Indian baby girl was branded with a hot knife by a local healer attempting to cure her pneumonia.
Shivani Seheriya had caught the life-threatening infection last month.
In desperation, her poverty-stricken mother turned to her village tantric, a traditional therapist used in rural India, for help.
Somvati Seheriya, 22, had lost her first daughter to pneumonia a year earlier, and had refused to take her to see the healer at the time.
After this, she was convinced he could cure her newborn baby.
Branding is a traditional practice in India where the skin is burnt with a hot iron rod or other metallic object to treat various medical conditions.
It is said to be a cure for common diseases like malaria, jaundice, meningitis and convulsions.
It is thought to be centuries old, and has attained a sort of religious sanctity.
This practice is still very much seen in villages in India, according to a study published in the Journal of Tropical Gastroentrology.
Mrs Seheriya and her husband Giru, 23, from Sheopur, in Madhya Pradesh, central India, took Shivani to the healer on December 2nd.
He then burnt the child’s abdomen with the hot knife over 40 times, convinced it would cure her illness.
However, Shivani’s situation only got worse. After she returned home she developed severe fever.
Desperately worried, Mrs Seheriya and her husband rushed Shivani to the district government hospital where, after treating her for the burns and pneumonia, doctors late found she was suffering from Ventricular Septal Defect.
This is a condition where the wall between the two a chambers of the heart does not form, leaving a hole.
Dr Gobind Singh, the surgeon and orthopedic specialist who treated Shivani, said: ‘When Shivani was brought into the hospital her condition was very bad. She was gravely ill and had trouble breathing. Her abdomen was badly burnt and it was a sorry sight to see a little baby suffering so badly.’
Medical stuff kept Shivani on a machine called a nebulizer, that administers drugs, and gave her medicine.
‘By God’s grace Shivani’s condition improved by the next day and she was even able to breastfeed,’ Dr Singh continued.
‘While pneumonia is common among newborns, unfortunately, the baby girl also suffered from Ventricular Septal Defect, which are holes in the heart. We have advised the parents to take her to a medical college where she can be treated by specialists, free of charge.’
Shivani and Giru hail from a primitive tribal community, called Seheriyas, in Madhya Pradesh.
They still believe in tantric or local healers for their medical problems, who carry out branding as a common treatment.
Dr Singh said branding is prevalent in remote villages dominated by Seheriyas and though painful, people willingly go for it because they have little or no faith in medical doctors.
He said he sees two or three cases of branded patients every year.
He said: ‘It is disturbing that tribal families still believe they would be cured with burns to their bodies. But I cannot blame them. They are illiterate and not informed about medical science, they don’t understand. When we get such cases, we try to educate the parents, and explain the importance of bringing their children to us for better treatment.’
Source: MailOnline