Newborn, toddler branded with hot iron

Keonjhar:  Blind faith and superstition continue in the state with reports of a newborn and a toddler being branded with hot iron rod to cure ailments emerging from Keonjhar.

The gruesome incident has been reported from Baharaguda village under Harichandanpur block where a seven-day old new born baby boy was treated with hot iron by her grandmother. The baby's umbilical cord had swollen to treat which the grandmother branded the baby with hot iron to cure his ailment. The baby suffered burn injuries on his stomach and was admitted to district headquarters hospital.

In another incident, an 18 month old baby girl from Patapani Sahi under Sadar block was also meted with similar inhumanity and treated with a hot iron by a local village quack to cure swelling of her stomach. After her condition deteriorated she was admitted to district headquarters hospital where the doctors diagnosed her with Malaria.

“The baby girl is in stable condition after treatment. She has been diagnosed with Malaria positive due to which her stomach had swollen but her parents misunderstood and branded her with hot iron. We happen to see such kinds of cases every now and then and in spite of repeated advices they still tend to prefer treatment by means of some miracle healing other than medical help,” Kishor Kumar Prusty, Child Specialist of Keonjhar DHH said.