A non-medicinal pill

People who resort to alternative medicine often come across resourceful quacks, who promise that just one session is enough to cure an incurable disease, remove a bad spell, and rid the patient of all possible troubles. They can also put a patient into a trance and rob him of his last penny. Distributors of medical drugs, religious sects, and enterprising businessmen often operate under the guise of experts of non- traditional medicine. People who are sick and disillusioned as a result of their state tend to believe even those who claim to be in contact with aliens or prophets with enigmatic ancient Rus’ names. Healing with herbs prescribed by folk healers usually drags out the time and when patients finally visit conventional doctors, it is often too late. At the same time, there is no denying the achievements of non-traditional healers. How can you tell an expert from a charlatan?

EXISTING DEMAND

It is very difficult to keep track of all the healers, “old grannies,” seers, and fortunetellers. Experts believe that approximately 12,000-14,000 healers are practicing illegally in Ukraine. Only 500 individuals have licenses issued by the Ministry of Health. These people have a special education and are certified following scientific proof of the effectiveness of their treatment methods. Others are “amateurs,”, and the market for such “medical” services allegedly capable of ridding you of various ills with “life-giving” water, “energy” shampoo, “toothpaste charged by aliens,” photos, and other improvised means continues to expand with new names. These quacks skillfully play to their audiences, posing as academicians of nonexistent academies and claiming to have medical degrees. The press is packed with ads placed by mediums, oracles, healers, and hypnotists. Information about visiting hours and the talents of these “false healers” are found on public transport and on the backs of utility bills. In a word, there is a demand.

SPECIFICS OF “CREATIVE MEETINGS”

It is very simple to arrange an appointment between a patient and a “professor.” These crooks have learned to masterfully circumvent the law. First, posters appear with block letters: “In response to numerous requests such-and-such a healer is already in your city.” This is followed by a list of the most common diseases copied from a medical reference book, and testimonials from patients who were allegedly cured. According to Ukrainian legislation, such ads must indicate a license. This requirement is not always observed; often posters advertising seances of transgalactic teleportations are accompanied by fine, illegibly printed letters and numbers that are considered a “license.”

Appointments with patients are officially described as creative meetings. As a result, the activities of such quacks automatically fall outside medical jurisdiction. There is nothing tax collectors can do because more often than not such seances are free of charge. Instead, people have to pay large sums for services and products. Before a patient realizes that his treatment is totally ineffective, the quack is off to another city where the routine is repeated.

There are also paid sessions. A customer comes to a fortuneteller and shares his problems. The woman listens, asks careful questions, and then starts telling his future, which is invariably happy. For the satisfaction of hearing about their future well-being, prosperity, happy marriage, and long life, Ukrainians pay between 50 hryvnias and 500 dollars.

The saddest stories involve hypnosis and robbery. To put a grief-stricken person under a spell is not that difficult. A friend’s daughter was told that all her troubles stemmed from wealth. One night the girl took her mother’s diamond necklace (I will not even mention its price) and brought it to a certain place as instructed by the “fortuneteller.” The parents caught her when she was stealing something a second time. The conclusion is self-evident. The blame for our mistakes often lies not so much with smart operators as our own stupidity and gullibility.

Some victims of “healers” end up in psychiatric hospitals. Recently a schizophrenic woman was admitted to Kyiv’s Psychiatric Hospital No. 1. She was obsessed by the idea that she was being controlled by “dark forces,” so she turned to a female “healer” whose “diagnosis” was that the woman’s family was cursed. After five costly sessions the “healer” declared that the poor woman could be safe only within the quack’s biofield. The woman spent one month in the “healer’s” home as her household help, doing all the chores. As her disease progressed, the woman started behaving irrationally and the “healer” threw her out. The result was a suicide attempt, hospitalization, and a long course of treatment.

A WARNING FROM THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH

If you are determined to consult folk healers, the Ministry of Health and law enforcement authorities recommend that you make an appointment at government-run offices of non-traditional and folk medicine. It is the only way to protect your health and your wallet.

You can tell a quack by examining an ad. “It must indicate a Ministry of Health license,” says Tetiana Harnyk, chairperson of the health ministry’s Committee on Non-Traditional Medicine, adding, “A doctor of non-traditional medicine must have official authorization to practice in a certain field. A doctor cannot treat arthritis and psoriasis at the same time. Non-traditional healers have no right to treat oncological and venereal diseases, which is happening everywhere.” A folk healer can treat patients without cutting the skin and internal intervention, and if an illness is serious, treatment must be supervised by a traditional physician.

COMMENTARY

“Specialists who are serious practitioners of non-traditional medicine are suffering thanks to these quacks. People are simply refusing to trust those who treat without pills and injections. The words ‘healer’ and ‘fraud’ are becoming synonyms. Charlatans pose as non-traditional doctors, and then patients consider all non- traditional doctors as charlatans,” says Lina Nesterovska, the director of Veda, one of the first scientific-practical centers of non-traditional healing. She adds: “In addition, it is very difficult for a healer to obtain a license these days. For this you have to pass a qualifying course, obtain a doctor’s recommendation, and pay no less than 2,000 hryvnias. And licenses are not issued to healers who use prayer as their treatment. That is why specialists don’t go to work in centers, but take patients at home or they emigrate. How can you tell a faith healer from a quack? Only intuition helps. You can also try to find out how long that person has been working in one place and what people say about his methods.”