A six-month-old child, who was branded with a hot iron bangle on the stomach, has been admitted in a critical condition at a government-run hospital in Odisha's Nabarangpur district, a doctor at the facility said today.
Debadutta Rana, a child specialist at the district headquarters hospital, said the boy was also suffering from severe pneumonia.
"The iron branding left him with serious scars on the stomach. He is undergoing treatment at the Special Newborn Care Unit of the hospital," he added.
Janaki Bhatra, the mother of the six-month-old, said she, along with her husband, had taken the child to a quack yesterday as he was not keeping well over the past one week.
"The child almost went without milk for seven days. He was having respiratory problems too. We took him to the quack for treatment," she admitted.
However, when the infant's condition worsened, they rushed to the hospital.
In the past too, the tribal-dominated district has seen similar cases of iron branding.
Two years ago, three infants died in Nabarangpur after being branded with hot iron rods, a district official said.
The administration has been campaigning in the area since then to create awareness on the harms of the age-old practice, he said.
The authorities are also trying to involve anganwadi workers, panchayat representatives and youth club members in the sensitization programme to end the practice, he added.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)