Healer and Healing: a Study on Khasi Health Care System Essay

This is particularly in our societies where one medical system along cannot adequately meet the health needs of the entire population. In the present time most of the people live in a medically plural society. So their health seeking behavior is an important side of human being. Through gathering information, to find out the indigenous medical knowledge of Khasis and to investigate the available health care options, understanding their perception about alternatives in health care system, explore the health seeking behavior of Khasi people. Health and care, belief and practices differ according different cultures. Cultural belief and practices strongly influence people’s health. Health problem often viewed as cultural phenomena. The term ‘healing’ means a variety of complex and overlapping treatment systems. Various medical anthropologists created typologies that recognize the phenomenon of medical pluralism in complex societies. Based upon their geographic and cultural settings Kleinman suggested that, in looking at any complex society, one can identify there over lapping and inter connected sectors of health care, the â€Å"popular† sector the â€Å"folk† sector and the â€Å"professional† sector (Helman, 2000). In our country Khasi is an excluded community. They are also well known ethnic community in this geographic area. They have a different cultural believes and practices. They are different in their life style with the Bengali. They have a indigenous medical knowledge. The healer of their community is known as ‘Bonagi’. The physician practices their knowledge insider of their community. But now a day’s people of the Khasi community also take service of allopathic, Homeopathic and Ayurvedic etc of various health problems. Statement of the problem: In both developed and developing countries, the standard of health services public expected was not being provided. The service does not cover the whole population. The health service favored only the privileged few and urban dwellers. The ethnic communities have been detached from the mainstream of the health and health care sectors including the public health care also. In Bangladesh there are 31 ethnic communities are existing and khasis are one of them is totally beyond the researchers and the policy makers. The ethnic community is living in Sylhet division since several centuries, but Anthropological study yet has not been conducted the health and health care. The impacts of climate change and global warming, various peculiar and unknown complex diseases are arisen. So it is very important to know how khasi people treat their different diseases. Objectives of the study: The broad objectives of my study will be to investigate the available health care option of Khasi people and it means to find out the indigenous medical knowledge of Khasis. Specific objectives: The specific objectives of my research to know: a) Explore the health seeking behavior of the local people. b) Understanding their perceptions about alternatives in health care system c) Understand their perception about new epidemic diseases which is revealed in this century. Review of Literature: For better understanding of the conceptual issues of the research, review of literature is needed. Few health related books have reviewed for this research after which described in below: Anita hardon (1992) has written ‘Applied health research manual: Anthropology of health and health care’. The Authors first assumption is that human body is more than just a physical organism but have a cultural mind which influence people’s health. As the formulation of them, disease is the definition of a health problem by a medical expert, illness refers to the experience of the problem by patient and sickness is the social role attached to a health problem by the society at large. The general framework of Anthropological approach: Structural Functionalism could view illness is a dysfunction of the body and health care contributes to the maintenance of society as a whole by repairing the sick individual . In the ecological model health is regarded as the result of successful adaptation to environment and disease the outcome of the failure to adopt. The Marxist political economy model viewed health and quality of health care are largely determined by social competition between groups of people (classes) and the unequal distribution of scarce resources. A symbolic point of view the described approach should be seen as complementary but critical Anthropology which has integrated the politico-economic and symbolic views and tries to connect macro and micro level insights in social processes. Illness is presented as the embodiment of Society’s most basic problems and conflicts. The popular sector comprises the lay, non-professional domain where illness is first recognized and treated. Self-care is an example . The folk sector consists of local healers such as herbalists, bone-setters, spiritual healers’ diviners and traditional birth attendants. The professional sector is the domain of medical specialists who enjoy a privileged position in the sense that they are legally protected and control memberships, knowledge and quality of medical practice by means of formally recognized professionalization. Authors further draw out other classification of health system, public/formal medicine is offered by the state and is either inexpensive or free, Private/informal medicine tends to be the domain of non-government organization or private entrepreneurs. A health system is an integral part of the wider culture and society in which it is found, they explicitly argued for the mutual understanding of traditional and modern medicine and respect for each other. Thomas M. Johnson and Carolynt Sargent (1990) has written, Medical Anthropology: A hand book of theory and method Thomas J.  Csordas and Arther Kleinman tend to emphasize the symbolic and non symbolic aspects of healing. The idea of therapeutic process is analogous to the idea of ritual process and categorization of it, the first formulation the treatmental event has been described as the process which is understand as the sequence of actions, Phases or stages undergone by the participants, on the other hand, process within therapeutic events is constituted by elements of verbal interaction and interpersonal relationship between therapist and client. The second conceptualization of experiential process with a focus the sequence of mental states, the emergence of insight, interpretation of religious experience, and endogenous symbolic or Somatic process, Third sense-that of progression or course of an illness episode, defined by a sequence of decision leading to diagnosis and treatment. The final sense-social and ideological control exercised through healing practice that may consider political that is the sense in which therapy and healing articulate with broader social issues and concerns. Francis x. Grolling S. J and Harold B . Hale (1976) has written â€Å"Medical Anthropology† The first formulation assumed that most cultures have kind of expertise or specialists who treats illness and disease might be identified as Shaman or witch doctor, And the society’s basic attitude is that if he can cure disease then he can causes disease, Again if the Shaman has the power to retrieve the spirit, it is quite reasonable to consider that he would also have the power to destroy a person by talking the spirit away. From views of African native doctor, disease is an external force which enters a human body in a specific way and interferes with the normal bodily functions, which can be classified into two classes: role of spirits of dead ancestors, sickness in human body has an organic basis. In North African Yanoama group perform using Shamanism and protection from evil spirits etc and other Shamanistic by shaman with help of their subjected assistant spirit, hekula. The feature of Shamanism is the chanting by which Shaman calls hekula to his aid; Snuffing is used during this period. In Peru, Coca is locally used medical practice for using various diseases. But with European intervention; it became used widely as a medical element to create various medicines. Within institutionalized framework. Turner, in discussing Ndembu medicine sees the dual aspects i. e. natural and social aspects of medicine. Certain Ndembu medicine cures are private and involve only herbalists while other disease involve mystical causes and therapy becomes a matter of selling up the branches in social relationships simultaneously with ridding the patient of his pathological symptoms. The social of nature of the cure is reflected in the fact that the patient is integrated isolated at several levels of the social structure during the cure. Theoretical Frame Work: In the research medical ecological theory has applied, which is coined by McElory and Townsed (1985:4). Herden, A et. All (1903:17-18) states also that human adaptation to environment. Cultural phenomena are seen first and foremost as human solutions to problems posed by natural environment. By viewing culture as a continuing adaptation to both nature and culture, McElory and Townsed seen that medical ecology considers health to be a measure of how well population adapt to its environment. Social, biological and environment factors interact and influence health. Fabreg states that medical ecology is holistic, that is it deals with the entire system of factors that affect health (cited in McElory and Townsed: P. 6). A key idea of medical ecological approach in that health is a measure of environmental adaptation and health can be studied through ecological model. Among the Khasis, this model has been applied to analyze the health and health care. McElory and Townsed states (1 bid: 14) the environment can be broken down into three part the physical on abiotic environment the biotic environment and the cultural environment no doubt these parts of models are inter linked as well as inter related. Ecological approach indicated the diseases as a result of several causes in the studied community. And it has shown that health and diseases are part of a physical, biological and cultural subsystem that continuously affects one another. Conceptual issues:  Three sectors model: In the research Kleinman model has applied, He states that, in looking at any complex society one can identity three overlapping and inter-connected sector of healthcare: the popular sector, the folk sector and the professional sector. The popular sector: This is the lay, NON-Professional, NON-Specialist domain of society, where ill-health is first recognized and defined and health care activities are limited. It includes all the therapeutic option that people utilize without any payment and without consulting either folk healer or medical practitioners. Among these options are: self treatment or self medication advice or treatment given by a relative friend neighbor or workmate, healing and mutual care activities in a church, cult or self-help group or consultation with another lay person who has special experience of a particular disorder. In this sector the main area of health care is the family. Most ill health is recognized and then treated. It has been estimated that about 70-90 present. The popular sector usually includes a et of beliefs about health is also maintained by the use of charms, amulets and religious medallion to including unexpected illness and to attract good luck and goods health. Most health care in this sector place between people already linked to one another by ties of kinship, friendship neighborhood or membership of work or religious organization. The folk sector: In this sector which is especially large in non western societies, certain individuals specialize in forms of healing which are either sacred of secular or a mixture of the two. These healers are not part of the official medical system and occupy an intermediate position between the popular and professional sectors. There is a wide variation in the types of folk healer found in any society from purely secular and technical experts like bone setters, midwifes, tooth extractors of herbalists, to spiritual leathers from a he erogenous group with much individual variation in style and outlook but sometimes they are organized into associations of healers, with rules of entry, codes of conduct and the sharing of information.. The professional sector: This comprises the organized, legally sanctioned healing professions, such as modern western scientific, medicine, also known as allopathic or biomedicine. It includes not only physicians of various types and specialties but also the recognized Para- medical professions. In most countries, scientific medicine is the basis of the professional sector. It is important to realize that western scientific medicine provides only a small proportion of health care in most countries of the world. In most countries especially in the western world the practitioners of scientific medicine from the only group of healers whose positions are upheld by law.