New initiative to fight superstition at ‘mazars’
ALLAHABAD : In a unique initiative against superstition over mental diseases, a team of psychiatrists will organize camps at popular ‘mazars’ of the district, which are visited by thousands of people round the year in the hope of getting relief from their ailments.
Launched under the District Mental Health Programme, the initiative has been named ‘Dua Se Dawa Tak’, said Dr Rakesh Paswan, consultant psychiatrist at Motilal Nehru Divisional Hospital here.
“The objective of ‘Dua Se Dawa Tak’ is only to encourage people to visit doctors, besides the ‘mazars’, and carry on both treatments,” he said. Paswan said that they will focus on those people who believe that their patients are possessed by spirits or djinns.
The camps will begin from next month, he said.
Paswan said superstitions related to mental diseases are deeply prevalent in society. In most such cases, people immediately conclude that the patient is possessed by spirits. They rush to ‘mazars’ and other holy places for getting treatment, which is commonly called ‘jhad phoonk’, he said.
The team, headed by Paswan, will include clinical psychiatrist Dr Ishanya Raj, psychiatrist nurse Shailesh Kumar and community nurse Sanjay Tiwari.
The camps will be organized every month at different ‘mazars’. The people assembled there for divine treatment will be encouraged to also visit doctors, he said.
Besides, the team members will put up banners and posters to spread awareness against superstitions and also distribute pamphlets among the people, he said.
Many ‘mazars’ in rural and urban areas have been identified and our first camp will be held at a shrine in Sikandara area of Soraon where at least 15,000 people arrive every Sunday for receiving divine treatment, he said.
“Our team will also identify other such places, including shrines and ‘samadhis’, for organizing camps,” Paswan added.