Girl who wept stones admitted to hospital

By JUSTIN HUGGLER

DELHI - The girl who wept stones. It sounds like something out of a Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel. But, according to reports from Jharkhand state, it is all too real.

A 15-year-old girl has been admitted to hospital suffering from tiny stones that emerge from the corners of her eyes. Doctors say they have never seen anything like it before, and they cannot explain it.

At the girl's village in Jharkhand, they have two explanations. Either she is possessed by an evil spirit, or she is an incarnation of a goddess.

But for 15-year-old Savitri, the condition is anything but a blessing. Before the stones emerge she says she suffers from excruciating pain in her head. Tiny stones emerged from her ears, nose and mouth as well. India is full of such extraordinary stories, and sometimes they turn out to be not quite true. Several doctors have come forward to say they have treated Savitri and observed the stones.

Such stones emerging from the mouth is not that uncommon, they can be formed in the salivary glands and are painful. Doctors say that stones emerging from the ears and nose have also been heard of before.

"In some cases, stones have come out from the nose and the ear of some people," said Dr Ragho Saran, an ENT specialist who has treated Savitri.

"But this is the first time I have even heard of stones coming out of the eyes. Stones are formed due to the high level of calcium in the body. But they are generally found in the gall bladder and kidney."

"Stones emerging from a patient's organs like ears, nose and mouth can be understood," said Dr I B Prasad, head of the ENT department at the Rajendra Institute of Medical Science, where Savitri has been treated.

"But, stones from the eyes is a strange phenomenon as this has not even found mention in medical literature."

Savitri and her family say they are desperate to find a cure for her condition. Her bedside at the hospital has been swamped with reporters, but the family say no one has come forward with any offer of medical help.

"It is exciting to meet so many media persons who keep coming to report my disease," Savitri told the Pioneer newspaper.

But she added: "What is the benefit of such attention when it fails to bring any relief? I hope some one will help me get cured from this horrible ailment."

The family say Savitri's problems began in April when she started to complain of headaches and pains in her ears. She was referred to the ENT specialist, Dr Saran, who operated to clear what was thought to be an obstruction in her ear. But four days later tiny stones started coming out of her ear.

Amid the village's supernatural explanations, the family approached a maulvi, a traditional faith healer who performed tantric rituals for 40 days, without effect.
The stones began to emerge from her eyes and nose.

The faith healers are often scornful of modern medicine, but in this case "Such was her agony that even the maulvi advised us to go to a hospital," according to Savitri's brother Santosh.

- INDEPENDENT