Traditional Doctor For Bones

Ranu Bhatra , a tribal man in his seventies has corrected at least 800 fractured bones in the last six months alone and has been continuing rendering such services at Girla, a remote tribal village in Kotpad block of Koraput district for the last 50 years . Ranu has not learnt a single letter in the alphabet and has never heard about Sushruta or Dhanwantari , the legendary ayurvedic practitioners who had offered health services in the Vedic age even before the modern science had evolved . But Ranu has been the hope for hundreds of poor tribals while using the traditional methods like bamboo and natural herbs to repair the broken bones in different parts of the body .

In the last 50 years people have received the utmost care and been successful in providing treatment for minor injuries to many complicated cases , Ranu said . He plays his palm over the broken part and understands the nature of the crack by feeling through his fingers , Tirupati Kendu , a young patient who was sleeping in the little health care centre at Girla said . And this was the faith in hundreds of patients all over the region drawing people from far and wide , Chandra Sekhar Majhi , former President of Koraput Zilla Parishad and a resident of the village said . Patients like Krushna Kendu , a young boy from Kenduguda in Boipariguda block who was injured in a truck accident preferred to get the care from Ranu even after visiting the district head quarter hospital at Koraput, he added . Krushna was advised to go to Visakhpatnam for getting treatment for his critical fracture . But going there was not under the capacity of the parents of Krushna and hence was brought to Girla instead, for treatment , he said .

No one is asked to pay any fixed amount for the treatment and was allowed to offer according to their capacities ranging from Rs.20/- to Rs.500/-, Ranu said . The patient has to purchase the cotton cloth from Kotpad market and bamboo plates are being arranged by the centre . A Paste is prepared from the locally available medicinal herbs and tied with the bamboo plates on the site of the crack . The binding needs to be done three to four times depending upon the nature of the crack over a period of three months’ time and the patient gets cured , he added.

‘It’s science and in no way any miracle’ which he had learnt from his uncle some 50 years back and now is transmitting to his three sons . However the art of offering selfless support to the patients irrespective of their social status and financial capabilities should not become the sole property of a single family , Dinabandhu Bhatra , the eldest son of Ranu said . Establishment of a natural health care centre with a herbal garden for growing the medicinal plants like Chitiki used in preparing the medicine paste was needed to save the practicing science from extinction , he added.
(EOM)