Traditional
Medicine & Tantricks- not helpful for fertility
Social effects of barrenness make both man and
women suffer. Infertility just like termites gradually eats the childless
couples from inside. Pronatalism
in society inculcates the deeper craving to have one’s own biological children.
As this most efficiently fueled desire increases, the infertile couples get
carried away, which results in unhealthy practices.
In the beginning, it’s difficult to accept that
infertility has somehow entered in the married life . First few months flies away expecting that by
God’s grace miracle may happen and they may be blessed with the baby. Crossing
the lines of privacy, many friends, relatives and elderly also suggest to opt
for traditional methods to beget child before seeking a fertility specialist or
gynecologist.
Fertility treatment can either be traditional or
biomedical. Traditional infertility services are still common in some rural
areas where people believe that traditional health care services is an
essential source of coping , understanding and managing infertility. Studies
have shown that types of treatment selected by infertile couple are sporadic. Mainly
anecdotal nature’s evidences suggest that couples prefer going to religious
places or traditional healers for fertility treatment.
In the spiritual and religious country like
India, people prefer speaking their feelings to their religious gurus or
astrologers and expect a positive answer from their side. They get ready to
participate in rituals and do all kind of puja, havan, yagya and fast, whatever
is best possible to fulfill their desire of child. The childless couples
blindly spend huge amount of money on these rituals just in hope to get the
expected results. They not even hesitate to wear charms and visit any corner of
the world for ‘mannat’.
At times, the infertile couples also fall in trap
of self styled tantriks, who have devised various infertility treatments which
vary from powders, potions and varied obnoxious and ghastly rituals. These ‘babas’
gains their trust and ask them to perform unusual tantric rites. These ‘dhongi’
Tantrics, hypnotize the mind of sterile couples to the extent that they agree
to sacrifice anyone’s child to please God/Goddess and in turn beget child for
themselves. It’s often reported by media how such black magic cases are
happening throughout the country and later these so called quacks and tantric
gets untraceable to save their neck.
Masses should be aware of the fact that our Indian
mythology has several references which suggest the use of assisted reproductive
technology (ART). To quote few, Lord Rama and his siblings were born after a
‘yajna’ carried out by Rishi Shringi who gave the three wives of king Dashrath
a fruit developed as ‘prasad’ of yajna to eat. This is could be an In- vitro
fertilization (IVF). The elder brother of Lord Krishna- Balram, was transplanted
to the womb of Rohini from imprisoned Devki and was shown as abortion to Kansa
(this is somewhat similar to the embryo transfer process). Due to curse when
Kunti’s husband became incapable of reproduction, all Pandavas were born to Kunti
as result of invocation of various Gods. From Gandhari’s conception too,
hundred Kaurav (clones) were created out. There are also several examples in
Christian and Greek Mythology also. Perhaps it has been observed that every
religion has a Goddess of fertility and people try to please her .
Traditional Medicine treatment includes Chinese
method with traditional Chinese medicines, herbs and acupuncture. Though IVF
and IUI must have given thousands of successful cases, people think that by
opting for traditional method they will be saving money and time. But realty
lies far away which they realize only after returning empty handed.
Stigmatizing beliefs, cost, limited male
participation, lack of services in the public sector and indifferent quality of
care are major barriers to prompt and appropriate treatment seeking. The people
who opt for such traditional and tantric methods for infertility treatment are at
emotional, mental, financial and physical loss. There is no direction to the
treatment in all these cases. Studies have shown that people who select these
mediums for treatment later switch to infertility clinics.
The ethics of IVF/IUI were always being debated
among religious, political and intelligential circles. It was feared that are
we standing at the edge of another breakthrough in infertility management or
there is something disastrous waiting to happen. The birth of first Test tube
baby- Durga in India, zipped everyone’s mouth and her normal life became
inspirational for others who were afraid of IVF/IUI.
The educated couples these days are so proactive
that they go to infertility specialists rather than family physicians or gynecologists.
The celebrities opting for such treatment have given strength to the people, to
walk with pride to these infertility clinics and get their cases addressed. In recent
years, however, reproductive technology has seen substantial developments. The
number of fertility hospitals with latest technology has increased now-a-days.
Their success rate and the way to provide tailor made treatment to every
individual couple have popularized their services. Under these new situations,
infertile couple has started opting for allopathic treatment as their first
choice, rather than running from pillar to post for traditional or religious
healers as in past.
The test tube babies experiment was never ever
tested rigorously for efficacy and safety on animals, but strong social desire
and demand of that experiment has made it widely accepted worldwide. Fortunately,
it has withstood the test of time and has given so many successful cases. It
has helped millions of childless couple around the globe to take away their
bundle of joy and happiness to their home. IVF has proven magical boon to
infertile couples.
It better if after two years of unprotected
sexual life , the childless couples visit the infertility clinics and get the
right treatment at the right time. It’s important to understand that by
delaying the correct treatment and by choosing the wrong means you are
minimizing the chances of conceiving. Money and time is an essential factor but
they should be channelized in right direction with appropriate approach to
achieve desired results.
Article has been published in IVF India with byline
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