Njuana — Inhabitants of Njuana, one of the last villages under Peren district bordering Manipur, still repose more faith on traditional healers than modern doctors. Almost all the villagers use traditional medicines as their primary health care needs.

When there is stomach pain, joint pain, or bones broken, the villagers visit straightaway their most popular traditional healer Teihet, who crushes herbs and roots gathered from the nearby forest to treat them.

In case of more severe ailments like fever, jaundice, malaria, typhoid, the villager turn to Selu, another healer from Ketang villager, under Manipur. It takes three hours to reach Ketang by foot. Selu is very popular. Villagers claim he even cured an HIV infected patient.

Absence of proper road connectivity and development has denied access to medical facilities. This apparently remains the main factor behind the dependency of villagers on traditional healers.

“We hadn’t had much a chance of getting acquainted with modern drugs and doctors,” Masang, secretary Njuana village council pointed out.

Doctors remain a rarity for the villagers – sighted only during medical camps which occur maybe, once or twice in years. The nearest Primary Health Centre is nearly 50 kilometers away at Tening. And to reach there is easier said than done.

It was only in 2006 the first cutting of road to Njuana got underway, the villagers said. However, the road is not motor-able. No vehicle was willing to travel to their village because of the appalling road condition which becomes more compounded during monsoon.

“It is as if the road was only constructed for the loggers to transport big timbers in big trucks,” a villager remarked wryly.

Road works only began a year back, despite the federal government releasing the funds four years ago.

Getting access to hospital, clinic and doctors during emergency remains the main problem. And it has become a routine affair for the villagers to transport patients on bamboo stretchers by foot.

“During emergencies, we depend on luck-of getting a timely vehicle for hire from Ntuma (after trekking for three hours), and pray that the patient does not die on the way,” said Masang. But not everyone has returned alive or healed.

The last time the villagers attempted to carry an injured child on a bamboo stretcher to Tening PHC, the victim succumbed on the way. Another villager who suffered from a bout of ‘mysterious viral fever’ died after he was injected a medicine dose by a doctor, as per the villager’s account.

Disillusioned by disconnect to the outside world, such incidents has also made many villagers wary of modern medicines.

Traditional healers to the rescue

The trust reposed on traditional healers is not without evidence, as Njuana villagers would testify. When bones are broken, the villagers insist on being treated by traditional healers or bone setters rather than go to doctors.

“Somehow, there is apprehension among the villagers that going to a doctor for treatment means their legs would be amputated,” Masang said.

“In January, our village ex-secretary fell from a tree and his thigh bones were shattered. He is being treated by Teihet and in the process of being healed,” said Masang, who himself was treated and healed of a shattered calf bone injury.

Teihet, aged around 70, uses herbs, roots and tree barks gathered from Mt Kisa and the nearby forest to make his medicine. He said there is a repository of healing plants in the area.

However, the secret to his medicine are not for all. Not everyone gets to be a healer. There is a tradition of handing down the knowledge of indigenous medicine making. “I can’t pass on the knowledge to my son. It should either be handed down to my son-in-law, or the husband of my brother or sister’s daughter,” he said.

Modern medicines a necessity

The health scenario of a century ago is not now. With passage of time, more threat has emerged from new diseases, which at times, is beyond the wisdom of traditional healers and indigenous medicines.
As such, access to modern medical facilities has become the more pressing.

The villagers are gradually realizing the necessity and dependence of modern medicines. “Some traditional healers have even begun to use both traditional and modern medicines to treat patients, Masang revealed.

“I wish the government provides a medical outpost- like a dispensary, somewhere near our village so we have easier access to medicine during emergencies,” Achu Head GB who is one of Njuana’s elder said.

“Is it because we don’t know how to express or highlight our problems that the government doesn’t hear our cries,” he questioned. Or it was more of a lament.

(This appeared in The Morungexpress on May 9, 2015)