Traditional healers sensitised to TB symptoms through Project Axshya

"There is medicine even in this stone. You need to have the eyes to see it"

 

These are the words of Mr Kriston Thabhah, a traditional healer catering to the primary health care needs of tribal people in his native village, Siatbakon, in Pynursla in Meghalaya state. He is among the many such healers in India who people in remote tribal areas rely on to treat minor, and sometimes major, illnesses. Thabhah, now 69 years, has been practicing indigenous medicine for over 50 years. He learned the art of healing from his father, also a traditional healer. Now his wife and daughter assist him in preparing and dispensing medicine, and he is grooming his daughter to succeed him.

 

The Project Management Unit from The Union South-East Asia Office (USEA) met Thabhah as part of a supervisory visit being managed by CMAI (Christian Medical Association of India), The Union partner for Project Axshya in Meghalaya. In his remote village in the East Khasi Hills district of Meghalaya, Thabhah sees some 10 to15 patients with cough on "market day" the day each week when villagers assemble for the local market. People use this opportunity to seek health care for their ailments. For cough, Thabhah has some herbal powders (churnas). He is also a specialist in skin ailments, including ulcers and swellings. What is unique about his practice is that he uses his mobile to photograph lesions and tumours, before and after treatment, to demonstrate the efficacy of his treatment to his patients. When asked why he keeps the photos, he said, "For Documentation". An important lesson for all of us!

 

Thabhah is one of the many who attended the 'Rural Health Care Provider Training' under Project Axshya, as part of the project's very essential focus on rural practitioners, including informal and traditional healers. There he was sensitised to the most common TB symptoms ("the cough"), the need to refer TB suspects to a designated microscopy centre (DMC), how to do this, and how to provide directly observed treatment (DOT) to TB patients. Now, Thabhah immediately refers all his patients with cough of two weeks or more to the Pynursla Public Health Centre, the nearest DMC.

 

In the first year of Project Axshya, over 2,500 such traditional healers were trained in 90 implementing districts. More than 10,000 will be trained in the second year in 240 districts. Organisers hope that training this large pool of traditional healers can contribute significantly to the much-needed early diagnosis of TB.

 

Click on the picture to download the Project Axshya Activity Report 2011-12