Quack Brands 1-year-old With Hot Iron in Gujarat Village to 'Cure' Fever; Boy Dies of Infected Wound

Palanpur: Four days after he was branded with hot iron, a one-year-old baby boy died at a hospital in Ahmedabad Sunday, doctors said.

Vipul, the boy, was branded by a village quack at Vaseda village in Vav tehsil of Banaskantha district on Wednesday.

Branding is administered as a traditional cure for fever and some other medical conditions by quacks in villages, said Sunil Acharya, a doctor at a hospital in Deesa where the boy was treated briefly before being shifted to Ahmedabad.

Vipul was having fever for 10 days, and he was branded on the left arm by the village quack on Wednesday, he said.

"The boy had pneumonia. After being branded with hot iron, his condition became critical. We referred the case to Rajasthan Hospital in Ahmedabad Friday," the doctor said.

Gautam Jain, a doctor at Rajasthan Hospital, confirmed that the infected burn injury claimed Vipul's life.

"This superstitious practice (of branding) still prevails in remote parts of rural areas of the state," Dr Jain said.