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Al-Ahram Weekly 27 May - 2 June 1999 Issue No. 431 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 27 May - 2 June 1999 Issue No. 431
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Living Features Travel Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Healer or quack?
By Mariz TadrosA 49-year-old Armenian woman, Narguis Galinian, is whipping up a storm of controversy with her self-proclaimed healing powers.
The Ministry of Health banned her from using her home for medical purposes at the beginning of May, after the head of the Doctors Syndicate, Hamdi El-Sayed, filed a complaint with the prosecutor-general. Galinian has been accused of practising medicine without first obtaining a licence from the ministry. On Tuesday, the Misdemeanours' Court in Heliopolis handed down a suspended sentence of two years imprisonment and a LE500 fine for stay of execution. A legal source said that since this was the first session of the hearings, Galinian would not go to jail.
"I do not believe this woman is a healer," El-Sayed said. "It is unreasonable that, at the threshold of the 21st century, we should believe a woman who claims that her hands generate electro-magnetic waves."
But Galinian claims to possess an electro-magnetic power, which she says was given to her "by God to heal people".
"Twenty-five years ago, I discovered I had this heat on my hands and tongue," she said. "One doctor diagnosed me with cancer, but later on, another doctor identified my electro-magnetic power."
Galinian says she has travelled a lot, treating the sick with her extraordinary power. She says that before coming to Egypt, she worked for five years in Syria and, before that, in Bulgaria and Greece.
She says she came to Egypt after being asked to treat a disabled person and stayed because she felt there were many sick people who needed her help. Since then, she has worked at the Nasser Institute in Shubra and at a government hospital in Heliopolis, near her home. Part of Galinian's 'healing technique' is to place her hands close to a patient's body, but without touching it, until, she says, she identifies the source of pain.
She claims to be able to treat paralysis, inflammations, migraines, spinal pain and ailments related to the eyes. But she cannot cure cancer or diabetes, except in its early stages.
"I have successfully treated 250 patients in two public hospitals," she said. She usually requires her patients to attend 24 sessions with her. But she insists she neither works from home nor does she demand money: "I heal many people who can't afford to pay free of charge but,of course, there are those people who pay after they realise they have been cured," she said.
Galinian believes the accusations levelled against her are unfair. "When I started working in the two public hospitals, nobody told me I had to get a permit. So why am I being stopped from working now?" she said, suggesting that the ban may have been sought by doctors who felt threatened by her success.
Two weeks before she was prohibited from working, police stormed her home and asked her to leave the country. But the deportation order was later rescinded. Although she says she will stay, it is unlikely she will obtain a licence to practise medicine. The Doctors Syndicate does not recognise non-traditional methods of treatment.
One young woman, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Galinian had treated her for a problem she had with her right leg, which caused slight numbness and pain.
But another woman, an Armenian, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said she was less impressed by Galinian's treatment. "I had a lot of pain in my arm, but I didn't know why. I went to see Narguis with some of my friends, but didn't take it that seriously. I paid the required fee of LE50 before being allowed into her room. Dr Narguis had very warm hands, which she passed close to my face and neck. She said I needed two sessions a day for five days. I didn't bother to go again. I later discovered her diagnosis was incorrect."
It is debatable whether Galinian really can heal patients by electro-magnetism. But, what is certain is that this type of activity can generate alot of profit.
