Monday 30 / September / 2024
Muscat: Omanis suffering from mental health issues are putting their health on the line by visiting “unprofessional” healers who beat and burn their patients’ bodies, according to a mental health expert.
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Some patients spend an average of three years jumping from one unqualified fraudster to another before seeking proper help, says Dr Munthir Al Maqbali, psychiatry resident at Al Masarrat Hospital.
The fear of being seen at a mental hospital forces Omani patients to seek riskier options, including witch doctors, according to Al Maqbali.
“Such a stigma is very painful. “I can say that around 90 per cent of patients who have psychotic disorders waste three years consulting people who claim to be healers using complementary and alternative medicine.
“This delay can result in more complications as the patients, ultimately, become more depressed about the illness.”
He said that such healers use witchcraft and other twisted ways to deceive their “customers” and charge them up to OMR400 per session.
A public prosecutor told the Times of Oman that such acts are illegal and come under the category of fraud crimes.
According to the Omani penal code, fraudsters who get paid for such acts will serve between three months and two years in jail, with a fine of up to OMR300.
However, the prosecutor said that such fraudsters can only be punished if a victim reports a case or the accused is arrested during a raid by the Royal Oman Police (ROP).
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Earlier this year, an African man was arrested for allegedly practicing ‘witchcraft and sorcery’ by the ROP.
According to an official ROP source, the officers arrested the accused after raiding his house in the Al Seeb area and found a set of incantations and satanic spells.
The man was also charged with committing a number of other fraud cases and the case has been sent to the public prosecutor.
Al Miqbali cited the case of a 17-year-old girl from North Al Batinah governorate who was suffering from bipolar disorder, a psychotic disorder marked by alternating periods of elation and depression.
“She had bruises, burns and severe injuries in many parts of her body as she was badly beaten by a healer who hit her using an iron bar, as he claimed to cure her from the clutches of ghosts,” Al Maqbali said, adding that she was admitted immediately to the department of surgery instead of psychiatry.
He said the girl left the hospital very soon after being admitted and good condition with only a minimal dose of medicine.
Many of the patients are educated and have high academic degrees, according to Al Maqbali.
“Despite the fact that some patients are highly educated, many of them prefer to explain their cases as spiritual possession or black eye effect, as it is the easiest and simplest explanation,” he added.
Al Maqbali is currently working on research to analyse the reasons behind seeking alternative medicine and to study the medicine used in such practices.
But he first needs to categorise the “healers”, as some call themselves religious healers, while others claim to be witches or herbal doctors.
“Some fraudsters feed their patients mercury, which can harm the brain, heart, kidneys and lungs. It can also result in impairment of peripheral vision and disturbances in sensations,” the doctor explained, adding that mercury can be fatal if given to children.
“Fraudsters strongly believe that mercury is the strongest enemy for spirits, however, it is so for humans too,” he said.
The medic said that in Sohar, an Asian national who worked as a farmer, claimed that he is gifted and has the ability to cure any disease. “He was singing weird melodies to his patients and make them consume unknown substances,” he said.
Physical violence is also a very common practice among “witches”. He added that fraudsters are working all over Oman, but people in Muscat seek professional medical treatment earlier than other governorates thanks to higher levels of education.
“I advocate all mental health patients to come to hospitals as all mental disorders are treatable, instead of paying fraudsters to get nothing but illness in return,” the medic concluded.
The police follow public reports and their investigation teams have arrested two Tanzanians , one Omani and one Sudanese.
“Most of them are expats from African countries,” the official said.
