Folk Medicine in Bangladesh: Healing with Plants by a Practitioner in Kushtia District

Folk medicine or treatment by individuals without any formal training, supervision or registration is a common form of medicinal practice in Bangladesh and is generally done with whole plants or plant parts. Folk medicinal practitioners (FMPs) are a common feature in rural Bangladesh with practically every village having one or more FMPs. The unique feature of the FMPs is their remarkable diversity in the selection of plants for treatment. Since folk medicinal practice has been going on in Bangladesh for centuries, it follows that this system of practice has to be found beneficial by the patients or otherwise it would have disappeared a long time ago. As such, the various plants used by FMPs need to be documented for they can serve as important sources of novel drug discoveries. The objective of this study was to document the plant-based remedies of a rural FMP in Kushtia district, Bangladesh. The FMP was found to use a total of 12 plants in his treatment. The plants were distributed in twelve families and were used for the treatment of rheumatic fever, pain, piles, hormone disorders in male, skin disorders, leprosy, hernia, and antidote to poisoning. The advantage with herbal medicine lies in the availability and affordability of medicinal plants. If the FMP’s formulations prove to be scientifically sound, the plants can prove to be possibly a less expensive alternative to allopathic treatments. At the same time, these would create awareness and spur conservation of the plants, quite a few of which are rapidly becoming endangered in the wild.

Keywords:Folk medicine; Medicinal plants; Phytotherapy; Kushtia; Bangladesh