**Nabrangpur**: With the branding of five children aged from seven months to one and half year, the neck deep superstition of the tribal pocket of Odisha resurfaces and the crumbling public health infrastructure again witnesses the thriving of traditional healers in the State.
This incident took place at Pujariguda village of Phuphugaon panchayat under Jharigaon block in Nabrangpur district.
Four infants were suffering from pneumonia whereas one child had cold and cough. The family members of the children resorted to the age-old traditional healing method rather going to the nearby hospital.
They called the local quack, Dhanasingh Ganda who branded all the babies on their stomach with red-hot raw cashew nuts in an attempt to cure them of their illness.
The incident came to light when an Anganwadi worker got a tip-off and visited the place, thereby insisting them to be taken to the nearby hospital for treatment, following which they were admitted in the Child Care Ward of Umerkote General Hospital.
“The children are now stable and out of danger,”said Sampat Kumar Panda, Child Specialist. Umerkote General Hospital.
It may be recalled that the Nabarangpur district administration has provided training to traditional healers against branding children to cure their ailments under the programme ‘Jyoti’.
The local media reports fresh cases of branding almost every week, compelling authorities to create flutter about banning the age-old practice, but nothing seems to actually materialize.
The list of such unfortunate events are mounting.
The branding of hot iron or bangle is an important aspect of traditional healing process which have existed in those areas for over a century. They believe by branding the child, the healer vanquishes the evils which may befall the child. Even if the branded child is unable to survive the burn infection, they take it as a will of God.
Though the administration conducts numerous awareness campaigns, but it all seems to persuade them to reject the age-old belief is an uphill task.