The Indian Express team visited various islands and villages in Gosaba block devastated by Cyclone Aila to find village quacks were the only help for the sick.

In Parasmoni and Lahirypur in Gosaba block, enteric patients are at the mercy of the quacks who are charging exorbitantly for their services. At Luxbagan bazar jetty in Lahirypur around 70 to 80 patients, with saline bottles, were seen lying on the embankment. Local quacks were busy treating people there, where not a single medical team or a government official has visited till date.

Gopinath Mondol, a resident of Luxbagan and a popular local quack, said he is swarmed by enteric patients. “Everyday from morning to night around 30 patients come to me with symptoms of diarrhoea. Others come with itching and skin problems. I help them out with medicines and saline bottles, but my stock is fast depleting. There was a cholera outbreak here before the storm, so I had some medicines left,” said Mondol. When asked about his credentials, Mondol said: “I am practising allopathy since 1996. I have no formal training or a degree.”

Villagers, however, said he is charging separately for the medicines and saline bottles apart from his fee of Rs 5.

“The doctor is taking so much money. We have lost everything. But we have to pay to save my son. He is sick for the last four days. It is not possible for us to take him to the Gosaba hospital and no medical team has arrived here,” said Manisha Baidya, mother of a 12-year-old boy, who is suffering from diarrhoea. He was found lying on the embankment with saline bottle under the shade of a makeshift shop.

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