KUALA LUMPUR: Divine beings and ghostly surgeons performing surgery and curing diseases? It sounds out of the world. But there are those who swear to its efficacy.
The practitioners of this surgery call it "psychic surgery" and the unqualified Shah Alam doctor who is said to have performed surgery on hundreds was one of them.
The man, said to be an Indonesian, is on the run since Health Ministry officials raided his "clinic" and seized his equipment on Oct 11.
There are many healers like him who perform psychic surgery, but without claiming to be qualified medical doctors.
And faith healers are not only in Malaysia. There have been reports of faith healers in the Philippines and Brazil.
People know them as healers and visit them when modern medicine is no longer able to help.
These healers are said to be able to extract a tumour or repair a blood clot with their bare hands while the patient is conscious.
They use no anaesthesia but claim the patient feels no pain, and the operation usually leaves no scar.
Parvathy Amma, who practises "psychic surgery", explained that the healer merely acts as a medium for spiritual or magnetic energies to act on the patient.
"The healer manipulates magnetic energy to penetrate the body, both the spiritual and physical body," she told the New Sunday Times at her Kajang home.
Parvathy, who is known to family and close friends as Paru, performed her first "psychic surgery" six years ago on a 50-year-old heart patient from Ipoh.
He told her that he was scheduled for bypass surgery for four blockages.
"I made him lie down, put my palms on him and prayed. Then I watched the ?surgical team? perform the surgery."
What exactly is this surgical team she talks about?
Paru said she would call upon renowned heart surgeons or other specialists who had died to assist her in the surgery.
"Only I can see them as they perform the surgery and healing. My clients just lie down. It takes only a few minutes," said Paru, who has performed numerous such surgeries.
Paru, who used to get as many as 50 patients a day, now sees between 20 and 30 on weekends. The number is lower on weekdays.
She, however, does not claim to be able to cure everyone or every disease.
"With the help of divine guides, I put my hands over the patient?s heart and I can see lights going into his body."
Paru said that she did not do the healing.
"My divine guides do that. I watch them putting their hands over the patient.
"Patients have told me that they feel a cutting and needle pricking sensation at the area where I put my hands."
Paru said she also has the ability to see and read auras and her healing includes Aura cleansing, chakra therapy and crystal healing.
She also does spiritual healing and counselling.
"I tell all my patients who come with physical illnesses to seek Western treatment. If it?s beyond physical, then I handle it."
She begins by asking her patient to lie down on a bed, and then chants silently with her eyes closed.
This, she explained, is done to check the colour of the patient?s aura and identify the illness.
Burhan Abu Bakar, another psychic surgeon, uses the power of the mind to carry out surgery.
"I imagine a scalpel in my hand and the act of cutting open the sick area," said Burhan.
"I have performed such a surgery on a 70-year-old woman who suffered from pain on her foot. I pictured the pain area in my mind and also the act of removing it.
"The woman later told me she suffered no more pain."
Burhan is also able to do "long-distance healing" by using a telephone and a glass or bottle of water.
"I instruct the patient at the other end of the line to recite certain prayers and Quranic verses.
"The patient then only has to drink the water he or she is holding to be healed.
" I am not the one responsible for the healing. It is God?s will that a person be cured."
Prominent Islamic healer Datuk Dr Haron Din uses the Quran and Hadith (traditions relating to the words and deeds of the Prophet Muhammad) to heal.
The soft-spoken Haron, who has been providing free service for over 30 years, sees about 200 people a day in Bangi.
"Most of my patients are Muslims. I have also seen people from countries such as Belgium, Australia, Britain and Saudi Arabia."
Haron said he also deals with patients who were disturbed by spiritual beings such as demons and jinns.
But despite their beliefs and methods, all three psychic healers were clear about one thing: To be healthy one needed to eat nutritious food in the right amounts. Overeating, they said, leads to ill-health.
?My son?s health improved?
KUALA LUMPUR: A quality inspector said his son?s health had improved so much since he went to see a traditional healer that the doctors were surprised.
Y.K. Lim, whose six-year-old son Navin suffers from congenital heart disease, went to see Parvathy Amma in August.
"I see a lot of difference in my son?s health. He is no longer ?blue? and breathless. Even doctors at the National Heart Institute are surprised at the change," he said.
Navin was scheduled for a major heart surgery.
"While waiting for the surgery, we came to know of this spiritual healer and decided to give her a try. She prayed over him and ever since then, he has been doing fine."
Parvathy advised Lim to take his son to the doctor for regular check-ups.
"I am happy to see my son playing and not having diarrhoea and vomiting or being allergic to food."
P. Kumari, 40, who suffers from stomach cancer, claimed that her doctors stopped chemotherapy after they found her health improving.
In June, Kumari, of Puchong, said doctors removed her cancerous ovaries and uterus but a subsequent check-up showed the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes.
While undergoing chemotherapy, she sought the help of Parvathy.
"I am not sure what she did, but according to doctors, I am fine."
Kumari is determined to go for regular check-ups despite the improvement.
Several traditional medicine practitioners and faith healers are also providing pranic healing, distance healing and reiki energy healing.
Their services spread by word of mouth. They have been in the market for about five to 10 years.
According to Universiti Malaya Tamil Studies lecturer and researcher Dr Sivapalan Govindasamy, patients turn to alternative medicine when modern medicine fails.
He said they were willing to take risks and subject themselves to unconventional procedures, including psychic surgery and prayers.
"The Malays, Chinese and Indians have their own traditional practitioners and healers. People who are desperate will turn to them, especially when doctors give up hope."
Sivapalan said Malaysians could seek these healers? help provided that they were registered with the health authorities and did not practise procedures which would endanger the lives of people.
"We should be more worried about the many herbal products in the market, the majority of which are unregistered and brought in illegally, and which can do more harm than good."
Sivapalan, who is awaiting government funding for research on herbal products and medical trends, said: "More people seem to be going back to nature rather than seeking modern medicine for their ailments."
Sivapalan said people were concerned about the side-effects of modern medicine.
For example, he said, people with diabetes and high blood pressure had to take medicine as long as they lived or else their condition would worsen.
"People seek alternative treatment because they want to go into the root causes of their problem and find a cure. They do not want to suffer from diseases their whole life."
Ministry can?t stop ?psychic patients?
KUALA LUMPUR: Director-General of Health Tan Sri Dr Ismail Merican said the ministry could not stop anyone from seeing practitioners of "psychic surgery".
"Some patients are very desperate and desperate people resort to desperate measures. Unfortunately we also have desperate practitioners wanting quick gains," he said.
Dr Ismail said those who performed "psychic surgery" and other forms of healing were not accountable to anybody or to any health law.
"If people believe in psychic surgery, we wish them all the best," said Dr Ismail.
He warned that if any non-doctor practiced modern medicine, action would be taken against him or her.
He said no amount of letters and testimonials about the abilities of such healers would make the health authorities change their mind.
"We practice evidence-based medicine. We accept traditional and complementary medicine (TCM), but only if the practitioners are registered with us," said Dr Ismail.
He said TCM practitioners focused on wellness programmes rather than treatment.
"Psychic surgery using modern medicine facilities is something we cannot accept," he added.
There are 219 foreign TCM practitioners in Malaysia, mostly in the field of Ayurvedic medicine, massage and reflexology. There are also some 10,000 Malay, Chinese and Indian traditional practitioners and faith healers .
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