While
India makes impressive strides in areas of technology, services, infrastructure
and other global metrics of development, the same cannot be said about holistic
development of the country. Critical areas of progress like education,
healthcare and hygiene are seeing development at a snail’s pace. Initiatives
are being taken by the government; however they are either inadequately
executed or ineffective. One area, I would like to touch upon today is the
Infant Healthcare, especially in Maharashtra.
I have
been trying to study the reasons behind the high Infant Mortality, the associated
myths, superstitions, the lack of medical infrastructure and most importantly
associated malpractices. Infant mortality is higher in the village and the
tribal areas of Maharashtra compared to the urban centres. This happens mostly
due to paucity of adequate healthcare facilities, medical aids, low education
levels and mostly fuelled by lack of awareness about hygiene, health,
medication. Such an environment becomes a breeding ground for major superstitions
and malpractices in the healthcare. The number of superstitions and blind
beliefs in India is very large as the Indian society is made of people
belonging to various religious, cultural, ethnic, linguistic and racial groups.
Key
Factors affecting Mortality rate
Societal Misconceptions
·
No roads, hence commuting are difficult, lack of education among people
about medical and health. Even if the medical aids are available people will
prefer to go to traditional healers who perform the so-called "tantra-mantra",
“jadu-tona" and other orthodox treatments.
·
They believe all the disease caused by Gods curse and tend to fall in
the misbelief and superstition.
·
There are several areas in Maharashtra where the tribal population is
spread. Some parts of Khandesh, Marathwada, Kankan, Vidarbha which include Dhule,
Nandurbar, Nanded, Raigarh, Thane, Pune, Nasik, Ahmednagar, Garchiroli and Chandrapur.
All these above districts have tribal population which still believes in these
superstitions.
Common Myths in Villages and Tribal areas
·
As we all know that first days milk from the mother is very important
for the new-born, but a common myth amongst these people is to keep their
babies without milk for 3 days and just give sugar water. What is more alarming
is that the mothers’ milk colostrum) is assumed to be impure and is thus squeezed
and thrown away.
·
Infants are also given gold or silver in raw form assuming that it will
strengthen the immunity.
·
When an infant suffers from pneumonia or cough, it is subjected to
homespun remedies by traditional healers, including branding by hot nails or
glass bangles. And application of sticky hot juice on the chest assuming it
will give warmth feeling and the disease will be cured.
·
People give pigeon's blood to the infants assuming it will make the bone
strong and healthy. On the contrary it has a major adverse effect on their digestive
track. They are not able to digest it well and thus suffer from various GIT
disorders.
·
To treat the Infants of snake and scorpion bite is very common in the
tribal population. They take the infants to a person who performs rituals, the
so called "tantra-mantra" “jadoo tona” and assuming that the poison
effect will reduce as a result. They go to the extent of worshiping the snakes and
believe that giving milk to the snakes will be a cure for their infants. Just
imagine the irony, the Infants are devoid of milk and suffer malnutrition but
the snakes get the milk.
·
When the infants’ start crawling, they fall many times and get hurt. The
villagers believe that soil is cure for the same. They put soil on the wound
instead of putting antiseptic lotions assuming that the soil has all medicine
which can heal the wound. They end up infecting the wounds with more germs and create
a bigger problem.
·
People believe many things that a new mother should not do or better
not do. The first 45 days after the birth of the child is a time in which the mother is not allowed to
enter the kitchen. She stays in one room and eats and sleep there. Just like in
the time of menstruation, this time after childbirth is a time in which she is
‘impure’. This woman just gave birth to a new child on this earth, this is the
biggest miracle of nature itself, that life comes from the womb of
a woman – and she is called impure? Of course it is right that she does not
have to do the cooking and cleaning in that time, she needs time
to rest! But confining her to this one room means that she won’t really get
space to walk around, which is necessary for a quick recovery.
·
In the Villages near Palghar and Saphale, there are people who are
believers of “Bhagats (Traditional Healers) the ones who perform
“Tantra-Mantra” as there is no medical facility available in the area. There is
a trust called as Astha Trust. They have appointed an allopathic doctor who
attends to the patients only once a week and gives medicines to the patients.
For the rest of the time the people visit the traditional healers. The
treatments done by the traditional healers are – they treat toothache and
caries by making them chew roots of some plant, which sometimes becomes harmful
to the gums. Treatment of Jaundice is done by making burn marks on the hand
with hot iron rods and for treatment of snake or scorpion bite, they tie a
tourniquet just above the site of the bite and they take the patient to the
traditional healers.
These superstitions and malpractices are
obviously driven by vested interests. They have a commercial interest in the
continuance. The shameful and cowardly act, murder of rationalist and
anti-black magic campaigner Narendra Dabholkar is a proof of the same.
The repercussions of these malpractices and superstitions
are causing a huge damage to the society as a whole. There is a drastic need
for eradicating them. A solution must be found for these. We see the following
solutions for these issues:
1. Educate the people about the need for formal
healthcare and take steps towards eradicating these malpractices.
2. Education of women related to the breast
feeding and weaning diets for infants.
3. Create awareness for the need of first aid
methods in all situations.
4. Reduce the mind-block in people’s mind about
visiting the doctor.
5. Present cases on the ill-effects of the methods
offered by the traditional healers.
6. Educate the people about the scientific and
proven system of medicines like Allopathy, Homoeopathy and Ayurveda.
Homoeopathy
offers a great alternative for the shortage of healthcare in these areas.
Homoeopathic practitioners can run the healthcare programs, treat patients and
educate the patients about the hazards of these malpractices and superstitions.
