Yesterday, as I walked into the children's emergency room, I couldn't help but notice a little boy of about 3 years unconscious with severe skin burns on the tummy area and legs. It was a gory sight. Already concluding it to be a home accident involving hot water burns, I asked the father to explain what had happened.

He said "Doctor, I came home and met my son like this. He had convulsion and my neighbours got some medicinal leaves, placed it on a burning stove and placed my son on top of the leaves on the stove to stop the convulsions." I couldn't help but ask, "So, did that work?" I never got a reply to that question. It was not the first time I had seen this, it probably won't be the last.

His son is now fighting for his life, unconscious, severely burned, and is currently been managed by many teams of doctors for all the complications incurred. More money spent, more days on admissions, more stress for the boy and family, all for a condition that could have been solved for just a fraction of the cost with zero complications.

I guess the pertinent question is why? Why are we always quick to resort to ineffective traditional measures which only serves to worsen matters only to remember then that hospitals exist. Why do we keep repeating the very same mistakes and particularly in children too? I am yet to hear that an adult was placed on a heated stove because of seizures. This is beyond ignorance... this is plain wickedness.

www.kiddiesmatters.com

Nigerians and their crude way of treatment

So touching