Meydan TV: residents of Azerbaijan go to wizards because of doctors' incompetence

The death of a resident of Azerbaijan during a ritual beating has not reduced the popularity of dangerous mystical rites. Due to the lack of money and low level of medical services in the country, many go for treatment not to doctors, but to traditional folk healers, magicians and exorcists, Meydan TV has stated.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the body of Murad Soltanov, a 25-year-old Baku resident, with bodily injuries was found on November 10 in the city of Shabran. The suspects of beating him up to death said that Soltanov was sick; and they beat him with sticks in order to "conjure ghosts."

The deplorable state of the medical branch in the country forces people to resort to risky ritual rites. One of the most popular ones is the "removal of fear by fire" (chyldag), or skin cauterization. Children are often subjected to this painful rite.

Services of the official medicine are much more expensive.

The activities of magicians, sorcerers and fortune-tellers in Azerbaijan are not regulated by law; it is impossible to ban their practice, Samira Agaeva, a lawyer, has stated.

Residents of Baku have noted that medical services are expensive; and when it comes to psychological problems, patients are facing stigmatization.

"In Azerbaijan, those who turn to psychologists are treated as crazy," says a young man.

"I saw that a psychiatrist failed to help a patient, but the latter's condition improved after he visited a magician," another young man asserts.