India, land of blind faith

A faith healer in Bihar claims to have cure for any disease, performs surgeries with swords, uses Handiplast as bandages and makes his patients drink his blood. Sounds morbid? Not to thousands believers who still flock to him.

After the report was aired on CNN-IBN’s sister channel IBN-7, the district administration in Bihar’s Vaishali said the Baba will not escape punishment. In a hasty damage control exercise, the building he works out of was also raided on Thursday morning

While the macabre tale exposed the reality of quacks, Godmen and the so-called faith healers, the question is why do people trust them? Is it simply blind faith or a sad reflection on the lack of a rural healthcare system?

Shockingly, quackery is not just a rural phenomenon. There are many takers for the thousands of quack shacks that dot the bylanes of urban Delhi.

Maybe little less gruesome in their ways, these “doctors” not registered with any of the medical councils. But that doesn't stop them from prescribing medicines and treating patients.

Miracle or trickestry

So why is it that Indians easily convinced of miracles? Is it the lack of adequate scientific and rational solutions or simply orthodoxy? To debate the issue on India 360 with Smitha Nair were President of Indian Medical Association Ajay Kumar, President of Indian Rationalist Association Sanal Edamaruku and Health Activist Rajib Dasgupta

Sanal Edamarku started the show by demonstrating a common trick that most Godmen master in order to surprise and awe many an unsuspecting devotee. By mere hand movements, Edamarku materialised two rings from thin air! However, he clarified it was no magic and just trickery that most magicians perform. “They are just magicians good at decieting and then there are a lot of gullible people who believe what they see. They believe that they are Godmen, gurus, babas and can do whatever they want. That’s where we need to stop them. That’s because India’s common man is gullible,” he said.

There’s also a grimmer side to a country where multi-specialty hospitals abound and medical tourism adds to exchequer. The lack of adequate healthcare at the implementation level results in most such quacks exploiting vulnerable masses.

Ironically, the business thrives because most qualified doctors do not want to work in the countryside, giving quackery a boost.

However, Kumar said healthcare and health infrastructure are not the only reasons. He attributed the thriving quackery business to political influence. “I have just seen the scene from Delhi and I don’t think there’s any dearth of doctors there. But still the quacks thrive. The problem is different. The governments want the quacks to flourish as they are the ones who bring the votes for them, not the qualified docs. That’s why none of the political parties are interested in bringing the anti-quackery bill either in Parliament or in states. IMA has been fighting for it for years together,” he said.

Kumar cited the example of Neeraj clinic in Dehradun which claimed to cure people of epilepsy. The IMA team raided the clinic and arrested Dr Gupta. “We were all threatened by him and some political friends of his.” Kumar said.

So while it’s clear that these quacks operate as a syndicate and are difficult to pin down, why is it that a law hasn’t been brought to keep them in check? The only deterrent – if it can be called that – is the outdated Drug and Medical Remedies Act of 1954 that refers to punitive action in case of advertising of medical cures.

“The issue on the ground is that public health service remains woefully inadequate and that’s the void that the these quacks fill up. Now the IMA has been arguing for complete ban on these quacks but the fact is that on the ground the quacks do remain at the heart of people who stay in places where medical services don’t reach or access to healthcare remains only in principle,” reasoned Dasgupta.

Dasgupta’s statement seemed to miff Kumar. Kumar said it was not just about the quacks who operate in villages or rural India. There were also some in the garb of religious leaders who influence the city masses as much as their country cousins. “They are very powerful people with a lot of money and support. They are being supported by some state governments too that have made them brand ambassadors. Without any knowledge of medicine they say they can cure ailments like cancer, AIDS and what not,” he said, also blaming the media for not cooperating with the IMA in boycotting these self-proclaimed doctors. “No news channel comes forward to cooperate,” he said.

Blind faith in faith healing

While quackery was one aspect of blind faith, faith healing seems to be the other popular one. The Kerala divine retreat centre that claimed to have healed people using simple faith in religion or God came under a cloud of controversy after reports of mysterious deaths being reported from there.

However, that too didn’t seem to stop people from flocking to the centre. What is it that makes people so staunch in their beliefs?

Edamarku was candid in admitting that it was the lack of interest by state government that the incidents of deaths went unnoticed or were suppressed. “The fundamental thing is the way this whole thing is being propagated. All this has been happening for a log time that people are dying there. But no one takes it seriously. Three years ago there was a lady who said that during the Mass the pancake that was put in her mouth converted to Jesus’s flesh. The Bishop was well prepared. That was the beginning of a big publicity stunt. Knowing fully well that it was all a gimmick the whole system supported it,” Edamarku said.

He also pointed out how the retreat centre makes tall claims on its website. Shockingly, the site says the centre currently has over 900 inmates and “by God’s grace” hopes to have over 2,000 soon.

The argument in favour of faith healing is that perhaps it can’t be written off completely and that it could help create an aura of positivity to help cure – along with scientific methods – diseases like cancer.

Kumar seemed to take faith healing literally and reasoned, “I do agree with faith healing. There’s a simple proverb ‘you must have faith in a doctor and that makes you better than ever.’ So faith is important. Diseases like cancer need to be fought with faith. Faith and courage help in healing. It helps body to generate immunological and other mechanism to fight the disease,” said Kumar.

But Edamarku corrected him at this point and said faith healing meant something very different. “It means you have to completely give up on medical system and you will get the benefit of that. Faith healing is a humbug that needs to be stopped immediately because it’s cheating and exploitation,” insisted Edamarku.

Whether or not faith healing can be like a placebo, creating positive influence remains a matter of debate, but experts seemed to agree that awareness and better healthcare would go a long way in ridding the society of the menace.

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