Question

The Mien people believe the hospital is haunted. At night, the spirits of the dead rove the corridors like a poisonous wind. In their minds, the hospital is a forbidding forest of restless souls and muffled cries.

In their language, there is no word for cancer or antibiotics. They don't believe in surgery or "bad news." They believe in herbal remedies, in bodily humors, in animal sacrifice and tribal shamansin appeasement. They believe illness is caused by evil spirits, by ancestral transgressions, by ineluctable destiny. With no philosophic immune system, to speak, they are resigned to their mortality, however premature...

Since sickness is perceived as a communal affliction, often the entire Mien clan will attempt to crowd into the hospital room to witness the proceedings. In grave cases, even the shaman might appear to perform a rite.

• Relate the difference between Magico-Religious, Holistic and/or Biomedical approaches of health care to this scenario.

Answer 1

MAGICO-RELIGIOUS HEALTHCARE

• The supernatural or magicoreligious health care tradition comes from a belief system which the world is perceived as an arena where supernatural forces predominate.Followers of this tradition hold strong belief about existence of sorcery, magic,and evil spirits.
• Causes of illness - it is attributed to spiritual forces.Also some believe that illness occur from possession of body by evil spirits or from casting of evil spirits, punishment for evil holding.
• Treatment - it involves achieving a positive association with spirits, deities,, etc.Treatment is done by healer practitioners of their communities called shaman. .Shamans seem to invoke power that are greater than ordinary physical powers..It may include hands on power to heal by removing harmful spirits stuff from body and restoring body's energy., the visionary power to see in to body of a sick person , power to retrieve the lost soul of sick..It may include ability to sense presence of one's ancestors or other friendly dead who have come to help.
• Treatment involves method like Cupping, spooning, coining, folk healers, chanting ,etc.In cupping a heated cup is placed upside down on body and pulling it off after it has cooled creating a vaccum. In spooning, a spoon is rubbed vigorously back and forth across body. Counting in wolves use of country to run on body.Some use folk healers to cure illness.

HOLISTIC HEALTHCARE

• Holistic health is based on principle that a whole is made up of interdependent, interacting ,parts. Also an individual is a whole made up of interdependent, interactive parts which are known as physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. If life is to be sustained these parts cannot be separated. , because what is happening to one system is also felt by all other systems.
• Further this whole person Including all of his or her parts is in constant interaction with everything in the surrounding environment. Holistic health is actually an approach to life rather than focusing on a specific illness or specific parts of body. Holism is concerned with connection of mind, body, and spirit,and how persons interact with their environment.
• Causes of illness - It assume that there are natural laws that govern everything and every person in universe.For people.to be healthy, they must remain in harmony with nature's laws and willingly adjust and adapt to changes in environment.
• Treatment - it restores the balance between natur and human body.It is done through following strict diet or food combinations, eating specific food before and after life event alike childbirth.,traditional cure like acupuncture, use of herbs, body exercise, mental control through meditation.

BIOMEDICAL / SCIENTIFIC HEALTHCARE

• It focuses on purely biological factors and excludes physiological, social influences, environmental factors.It is the leading modern way of health care.proffesionals to diagnose and treat a condition. It focuses on physical processes like pathology, biochemistry , physiology of disease.According to this health constitutes freedom from disease, pain or defect making normal human condition healthy.
• Causes - illness is due to biological concerns and abnormalities in body's physical structure or chemical functioning.Disease occur when persons condition deviate from clearly established norms based on biomedical science.  
• Treatment - it remove or destroy causative agent,affected body part, or control affected body systems. It is dominant form of treatment in most countries. Treatment include surgery, medication like antibiotics or therapeutic intervention that destroy or remove cause of illness like chemotherapy, radiation.In some cases nutritional supplements like vitamins and minerals are given.