Man plays doctor with kitchen knife

Man plays doctor with kitchen knife

MAKASSAR, South Sulawesi: Dozens of people in the provincial
city of Makassar have allegedly been healed by a self-proclaimed
doctor, who uses an ordinary kitchen knife to cut open his
patients and remove tumors, kidney stones, other organs and
foreign bodies.

Healer Damianus Wera uses no anesthesia, his operations leave
no scars, and patients need no bed rest for postoperative
recovery. His operations take only four to five minutes.

Damianus said his only tools were a cutter or a kitchen knife,
pincers for the extraction, cotton to swab the blood, and
bandages to close the wound.

He claimed that none of his patients had returned with the
same ailment.

"I didn't feel any pain while my chest was being cut open. In
fact, I thought Pak Damianus hadn't even operated on me," said
Idrus Abustam, who suffered from a heart problem.

Damianus is also reportedly skilled in extracting small items
like nails from patients who believe they have been voodooed.

Similar practices have been reported elsewhere throughout the
country, but most have turned out to be hoaxes.

These charlatans do not cut open their patients. Instead, the
quack healer palms a piece of chicken liver to produce the effect
of blood and use the liver or other innards in a sleight-of-hand
to make it look as though something has been removed from the
patient's body.

With no real operation having taken place, the patient does
not feel any pain, complains of no scars, and can walk home
immediately afterwards. -- JP