Malkangiri: Notwithstanding strides made by medical science, sections of society still refuse to acknowledge it and choose traditional method of treatment to get relief from chronic diseases.
In a recent development, hundreds of donkeys from Adilabad district of Telangana can be spotted at every nook and corner of this district headquarters town with people competing with one another to get a teaspoonful of donkey milk and urine to get rid of old ailments, according to a report.
The donkey owners from Telangana charge something around `200 for a teaspoonful of donkey milk from locals. They claim a patient can get relief from chronic ailments like joint pain, chronic head ache, migraine, intermittent fever, lungs disorders, jaundice, gastritis, dengue, chikengunya and malaria by sipping a cup of donkey milk. They, however, have different slabs for individual doses and family doses.
For example, a teaspoonful of donkey milk for a child costs `150 while `300 is charged for a group of three kids in a family.
Similarly, an adult has to pay `200 for a single teaspoonful while a package for four persons in a family costs `600. The donkey owners travel door to door to hawk their ‘multipurpose product’ to citizens.
Apart from milk, the donkey owners sell urine of animals and the going rate is `200 for a small bottle, it was learnt. Like milk, the urine also cures some incurable diseases, they claim.
Meanwhile, the presence of donkeys in the town has evoked tremendous response from people in urban pockets as well as rural areas.
Due to lack of promotion of healthcare schemes launched by the government, people still fall victim of superstitions, locals said. PNN