When Mistrust Becomes Dangerous

Recently, we visited someone in the hospital suffering from a serious stomach illness. Their condition was critical upon arrival. After speaking with the family, we learned that before going to the hospital, the illness had been “treated” using different ideas and advice from many people — none of them doctors. Time passed, the condition worsened, and the person nearly lost their life.

This deeply shocked me. How can people place more trust in rumors, beliefs, or improvised advice than in medical professionals who have spent years studying to save lives? Sadly, this is not an isolated case. In our communities, it happens often.

I once even heard someone say: “Typhoid fever cannot be treated by a doctor because it could kill the patient.”
Such statements spread, settle into minds, and end up guiding life-or-death decisions.

This raises an important question:
How many lives are endangered, not by a lack of doctors, but by a refusal of medicine?

Society and tradition play a powerful role here. Advice from relatives or so-called experienced people often outweighs years of medical training. Hospitals are sometimes seen as places of death rather than places of healing — and doctors as a last resort.

Trusting a doctor is not rejecting one’s culture. It is choosing life, prevention, and responsibility.