A MEDICAL specialist at Yangon Children Hospital has warned that kids undergoing traditional me-ka-laung therapy can contract infections if the needles used in the procedure are not sterilised properly.

Me-ka-laung involves using needles or other sharp instruments to pierce the skin around the anus or the tips of the fingers and toes to relieve high fevers in children.

Dr Nilar Khin, an assistant surgeon (paediatrics) from the hospital, conducted a study from June to September 2004 of 60 children between the ages of one and 12 years, who had been subjected to the method at home before seeking treatment at Yangon Children Hospital.

According to her findings, which were presented at the 13th Medical Specialities Conference organised by the Myanmar Medical Association on November 12, ill children who were exposed to unsterilised instruments while undergoing me-ka-laung therapy faced a high probability of infections and other complications.

“The aims of the study were to determine the relationship between blood culture results and the different ways of practicing me-ka-laung, and to find out what types of families use the method on their children and the different ways they do it,” she said.

According to her study, 28 of the 60 children suffered from infections resulting from the technique, with 12 children having been subjected to skin piercing around the anus; 10 to jabs to the fingertips and toe tips; five to fingertip, toe tip and anus jabs; and one to the fingertips only.

“More than 80 percent of the children in the study underwent the procedure using unsterilised instruments,” Dr Nilar Khin said.

She said about 70pc of me-ka-laung procedures were done using pins or needles – with only 18pc using disposable needles – while more than 11pc were done using thorns from plants.

Dr Nilar Khin said most of the children who underwent me-ka-laung were still under the care of their biological mothers but the procedures were mainly done by neighbours or relatives who were not medical professionals, with a few done by traditional medicine practitioners.

However, 60pc of the mothers who turned their children over to neighbours or relatives for the procedure were unable to accurately explain what me-ka-laung should be used for.

“Many people believe it is mainly used to relieve high fevers accompanied by elevated heart rates, and to relieve drowsiness in children,” she said.

More than 50pc of the fathers and 60pc of mothers in the survey had received only primary educations.

“The majority lived in the outskirts of Yangon with only a few from rural areas and urban areas,” Dr Nilar Khin said.

U Mya Win, the president of the Traditional Medicine Practitioners Supervisory Committee for Yangon Division, told The Myanmar Times that it was important to use disposable or sterilised needles for me-ka-laung treatments.

He said the therapy constituted an officially recognised traditional medical treatment but it was not as popular now as in the past.

“It is being replaced with other traditional medicine techniques,” he said.