DHADING: A man who was undergoing treatment at Dhading District Hospital after a shaman cut his belly in operation for promised cure of jaundice, died at the hospital, on Monday evening.

Thirty-nine-year-old Raju Magar of Jhagare in Nilakantha Municipality-9, Dhading, had consulted with Gaj Bahadur Lama of Dhadingbesi who introduced himself as 'Mahayan Lama Jhankri' for the treatment of jaundice. Magar was suffering from the water-borne disease for about two months.

Magar’s condition got worse after Lama, the shaman cut his belly with a blade promising to cure him, on September 1. The shaman had called Magar to his house, saying he could treat him with the help of tantra, but he cut his belly with a blade, supposedly to extract the malady through the hole. The shaman had taken Rs 8,380 from the patient promising to cure him.

Prior to undergoing treatment at the district hospital, Magar's kin had taken him to Naya Bazaar-based People Medical College in Kathmandu. The hospital, after extracting pus from the festering wound, had then told the kin to take the patient to Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital for the remaining treatment. However, Magar was taken to his home district on September 6 and admitted to the district hospital.

Although Raju’s kin filed an FIR with the DPO against Lama a few days ago, Lama is still at large, Dhading District Police Office informed.