Superstition rules the roost; parents brand newborn with hot iron

Malkangiri: In yet another instance of superstition, 15-day old newborn was branded with red hot bangles by its parents on the advice of a local quack at Gummajharan village in the district. The baby is battling for life at district headquarters hospital here.

The baby’s belly had swelled. In the absence of doctors and poor accessibility to hnearby hospital, the parents of the baby took the newborn to a local quack who advised them to brand it with hot iron.
“We took our 15-day old baby to the quack and he advised us to do so for recovery” an illiterate mother of the newborn said.

After the condition of the newborn worsened, some educated people advised them to take the baby to the government hospital at Mathili where doctors referred the baby to district headquarters hospital.

The newborn is currently undergoing treatment at Sick Newborn Care Unit (SNCU) at the district headquarters hospital in Malkangiri. The attending pediatrician at the hospital said its condition was stable.