| Summary/Abstract |
This article explores the potential conflict between allopathic (‘Western’) medicine and rural beliefs in village goddesses, given that each demands blood for diagnostic purposes and sacrifices, respectively. Our objective is to understand the experiences and attitudes of rural residents to blood tests, blood donations and blood transfusions. We explore the specific question of the extent to which poor villagers in Wardha district, Maharashtra, might be supportive of or opposed to point-of-care blood testing at their doorsteps. We began by asking them about their religious practices, including the sacrifice of animals and offerings of blood to deities. Such values could affect their perspectives on human blood and allopathic medicine. After that, we asked whether they had any fears about modern medical treatments and technologies—such fears might be driven by anxieties about angering goddesses if human blood was used for non-sacred purposes. Our investigations took us into an inquiry about villagers’ experiences with hospitals. We came to realise that for villagers, despite the costs of hospital diagnosis and treatment, hospitalisation had become a source of new knowledge about blood. And, finally, we asked villagers what they thought about the value of point-of-care blood testing at their doorstep. We were told that the high cost of hospital treatment means that villagers support technologies that can be used at their doorstep and work towards improving their health and longevity.
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