For a Few Pennies More - Indonesia

April 2000
Kamidi lives on the slopes of Mount Merapi in Indonesia, one of Java's most active and dangerous volcanoes. He's three foot tall and has the tell-tale signs of cretinism: low hair line, bulging eyes, stunted growth - all associated with iodine deficiency, common in volcanic areas. Twenty years ago, Dr. Djokomoelyanto, a distinguished Indonesian endocrinologist injected large numbers of cretins in the surrounding area with iodine-infused oil. Kamidi was one of his patients. Within weeks, as Prof. Djokomoelyanto recounts in this moving Life programme, the cretins started feeling more energetic and lively. Kamidi eventually even married - another, taller, cretin, who'd also been treated with the iodine-infused oil, and they had two normal children.

• Category

  • Travel & Events

• License

  • Standard YouTube License