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How can some of us be so gullible?

May 06, 2010 Letters

Dear Editor,
I am very happy reading in Kaieteur News (05-05-10) that the police are hunting for the ‘fake healers/fortune tellers’ from India. I wish they will also hunt such persons who are Guyanese who daily ‘pray’ for sick people in order to prey on them.
Many Guyanese, both literate and illiterate are steeped in superstitious ignorance and allow themselves to be fleeced by these conmen.
The tradition of curing jaundice by these pandits is an old one where a string with pieces of a particular kind of grass is tied around the person’s neck and the jaundice is gone in a week.
Here are the facts concerning jaundice for the benefit of those who do not know.
Jaundice, in itself, is not a disease but a sign that can occur in many different diseases. It causes the skin and the white of the eyes to have a yellow staining.
What causes jaundice:
Bilirubin comes from red blood cells. When red blood cells get old they are destroyed. Hemoglobin, the iron-containing chemical in red blood cells that carries oxygen, is released from the destroyed red blood cells after the iron it contains is removed. The chemical that remains in the blood after the iron is removed becomes bilirubin.
High levels of bilirubin in the blood cause the skin and the white of the eyes to have a yellow staining called jaundice.
The liver removes bilirubin from the blood as a waste product and passes it out in our feces. Bilirubin gives feces its brown colour.
When does jaundice occur:
Jaundice occurs when:
1. There is too much bilirubin being produced for the liver to remove from the blood
2. A defect in the liver that prevents bilirubin from being removed from the blood
3. Blockage of the bile ducts [tubes] decreases the flow of bile and bilirubin from the liver into the intestines.
I trust that the facts given here will help one to understand that a medical doctor should be consulted and not a pandit [bandit], should he/she suffer from jaundice.
Ameer Bacchus

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