Railway Track Therapy’ The New Health Mania among Indonesians

A new craze has emerged among some of the people of Jakarta in Indonesia that an ailing patient can be relieved of his sickness by lying down across the railway lines. They believe that the low-voltage electric current in the tracks will cure them as it passes through their bodies. According to local media reports, these people believe it can cure all kinds of diseases, from diabetes to high-blood pressure to insomnia.Until recently around 50 people used to visit the railway tracks daily to seek this therapy. In order to curb this dangerous practice the Railway officials have erected signs warning of the dangers of the fad, threatened penalties of a three-month jail term and fines equivalent of £1,200 for those who flout the ban on the practice. After this the numbers have dropped but some people still remain undeterred and come looking for free “electric therapy.”

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This dangerous practice came into existence with a local rumour about a man who tried to commit suicide as he was fed up after suffering paralysis from a stroke and medical treatment failed to cure his symptoms. He laid down on the tracks with the intention of killing himself but claimed that the track therapy had instead cured him.