Heights of Ignorance

If you search my blog, there is a post with a similar title written on September 3, 2013.

I was aghast at finding a similar report in our local newspaper few days back.

Below is the clip.

The headline screams - Superstition: Buried dead body of girl exhumed on instructions from traditional medicine-man. Medicine-man claims that dead girl will live. 

The news report is about a family who lost their 6 year old daughter after a snakebite. After the dead body of the girl was buried, a traditional medicine-man turned up who claimed that the girl is not dead, but alive. The family readily exhumed the dead body. However, when the family shifted the body for witchcraft, the local temple priest declared that the girl was dead. 

The incident happened in Kankari village, which is 11 kilometers from the Palamu district headquarters of Medhininagar, previously called Daltonganj. 

Photo Post, 20 Jan, 2014

Miscellaneous snaps from NJH . . .

We had a 1 year old child come down in shock after becoming dehydrated from severe diarrhoea. We had to put in an intraosseous line. We found out that the line would flow if there was a bit extra pressure. The best way to attain that was to put the intravenous bottle as high as possible. The intervention worked well and the boy survived. Dr. Koshy from Baptist Hospital, Tezpur helped us over phone to put in the line. 

The harvest from the Ragi fields and SRI Rice fields are finally over. One of the farmers gifted us about 8 kilograms of the finger millet. The farmers who worked with us produced a total of 5 tonnes of paddy from about 4 acres and about one tonne of finger millet from about 5 acres. Of course, the yield can be more, but it was unbelievable when the farmers told us that they got about 1.5 tonnes of paddy more than what they usually got. Nobody remembers about previous finger millet productions as it's quite some time since anybody had done finger millet farming in this region. 

Pilatus enjoying the warmth of the library (doctor's duty room)

We've a traditional healer in Satbarwa village who's quite well known for his treatment of strokes. I know this guy and has heard that he treats his patients with an extract of garlic. Only recently, I saw the medicines that he prescribes for his patients. There was one branded preparation of Ashwagandha extracts, then one packet of unidentified medicines and a orangish fluid which was supposed to be injected once a week for 6 weeks. The total cost 1300 INR. This was brought to us by one patient with Bells's palsy. She came to us for a second opinion after seeing this traditional healer. She was a bit concerned about the orange colored potion which was to be given as an intramuscular injection.

Our almost completed water tank. It's about 75 feet tall. Last Sunday, I took a trip to the top. 

I took some snaps which I shall put up in a later post . . . The view from the top is awesome . . .