Faith healers offering dubious treatment

When Ripon Chandra Roy, 21, son of late Raghu Nath Roy of Uttar Saptana village in Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila began suffering from an unspecified mental illness a year ago, his mother Pushpa Rani didn't know what to do.

Eager to help her son recover she turned to the services of a faith healer who identified an attack by a spirit as the cause of the problem.

"I have a contract for Tk 10,000 with the healer to return my son to normality," she says, "I've paid half." Exorcism treatment has been continuing for one month so far and Rani believes her son's condition did improve slightly after the first week.

But fellow villager Nagendra Nath Roy is skeptical. "Faith healers are touts," he says, "They always cheat people and we told this to Pushpa Rani but she didn't listen."

Noor Hossain from Ambari village is the faith healer treating Ripon. He has confidence in his abilities. "I saved many people from spirits," he says, "and I am hopeful I can do this for Ripon."

Similarly, fellow faith healer Altaf Hossain of Namuri village in Aditmari upazila also believes in the treatments he provides. "It always gives a good result," he claims, "and although I am not wealthy I am able to make a big contribution to the community through spiritual healing." He says faith healing is never cheating.

Yet the consequences of relying on faith healers can be far more serious than a waste of money. Azinur Rahman, 35, an areca nut trader from Namuri village recalls how a faith healer treated his elder brother Ahmed Ali. "My brother died, finally," he says, "The faith healer cheated us."

Residential Medical Officer of Lalmonirhat Sadar Hospital Dr. Nabiur Rahman identified faith healing as a serious form of cheating, with a good number of healers active in the district's villages. He stated that a patient's condition will often deteriorate even until there is a risk of death, with valuable time wasted during which scientific medical treatment could have been applied. Where medical treatment is delayed, according to Dr. Rahman, a patient's prognosis is will often be worse than it might otherwise have been.

Yet as is the situation in many villages, for Pushpa Rani it is not straightforward to access medical treatment for her son, especially given his is a mental illness case. Even were she to favour scientific over spiritual treatment in theory, it remains true that spiritual healing is likely the most available village option. While in a distraught state about her son's condition, it's easy to comprehend why she might favour it.