Address At The Dr. B.c. Roy National Awards Presentation Ceremony

Let my Brain Remove the Human Pain

I am delighted to participate in the Dr. B.C. Roy National Awards function. I greet the organizers, eminent personalities who have been selected for these awards and distinguished guests. I congratulate the award winners. In honouring these eminent personalities we pay our tribute to Dr. B.C. Roy, a distinguished physician, a great statesman and an administrator. He had made invaluable contribution for the removal of human pain during the freedom struggle and also during the post-independent period. I would like to discuss with this audience some thoughts on ?let my brain remove the human pain.?

Holistic Treatment

In India we are having a variety of traditional systems of medicines such as Yoga and Naturopathy, Ayurveda, Unani, Homeopathy and Siddha. These ancient systems of medicines are unique to our country and many times they are complimentary to each other. This system needs scientific method of testing with clinical data. I would consider appropriate to create these wings in the hospital so that patients can have a choice in determining the system of medicine, which they would like to have. This will enable rapid development of medicines and fast track clearance of products through integrated clinical trials and approval from ethical committee. This area will be a great wealth generator for the nation.

Life style intervention for heart care

I would like to recall an experience during my work as Scientific Adviser to Raksha Mantri. The life style change pattern can be a great influencer in reducing the occurrence of cardiac problem among the Indian population. I recall there was a joint project of Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences (DIPAS), DRDO and the Global Hospital Research Centre governed by the Brahma Kumaris for studying the effect of "holistic lifestyle intervention" on the patients suffering from Coronary Artery Diseases after angioplasty and surgical intervention. The project involved both Control Group and the Experimental Group. The Control Group was subjected to conventional treatment whereas the Experimental Group was supported by an intervention involving low fat, high fiber vegetarian diet, walking and aerobic exercises and systematic meditation. This psycho-physiological mind-body approach in treating heart patients of the Experimental Group resulted in dissolution of angiographic plaque and improvement in microcirculation of blood in heart components of the patients. The treatment was also supported by participation of spouses and other family members of the patients, leading to a unique family system approach to Medicare.

When I conducted the first review of the project, I found that nearly 60 people had reported positively about their well-being and their clinical reports showed remarkable improvement. When I visited the hospital again after two years, nearly 400 patients gave us a joyful presentation about their experiences. It was an experience of great happiness to see the patients presenting their X-ray records and angiogram, showing us how this unique way of treatment has given great relief to their hearts. The conflict between cardiology, psychology and theology still persists, but this experiment has given a new thrust and a lasting cure for heart patients. The message I would like to convey is that through the integration of medical science, physiology, health care, psychology and spirituality, a native Indian knowledge system in combination with allopathic systems can emerge. The members of the medical community can propagate this system in their institutions.

Research Areas

Recently I met Prof. Vijay K Varadan of Pennsylvania State University, US. He shared his experience on the possible line of treatment for Parkinson?s disease and Epilepsy. The primary symptoms in Parkinson Disease as you all aware are tremor or trembling in hands, arms, legs, jaw, and face, rigidity or stiffness of the limbs, slowness of movement and impaired balance. Prof Varadan has devised a wireless system for monitoring and control of Parkinson?s disease. The system consists of an implantable DNA insert in the head region for generating a pulse to the nerve system; controlled either by a modified pacemaker or smart hat. A Passive polymer based gyro sensors, which are implanted in the tremor location. The sensor gets the power from the Pacemaker and the Pacemaker then reads the tremor motion. The Pacemaker then generates the pulse in the implanted device in the head to control the tremor. This appears to be a promising line of treatment for such diseases. Prof. Varadan also has reported that the few patients affected by Parkinson diseases had a full recovery. I would request the eminent medical practitioner to work in such frontier areas of research.

Stem cell therapy for future heart ailments

Newer knowledge emerging out of research on stem cells from abroad and India has to be taken note of and studied. Drawing of tens of thousands of stem cell - immature cells that are capable of transforming themselves into almost any kind of tissues from the suffering patients and inject them into the heart to stimulate heart repair. In one case, it is reported that the pumping efficiency has increased from 25% to 40% over a period of four months. In 2003, successful stem cell procedures that resulted in measurable boost in blood pumping capacity have increased substantially in many countries across the globe. This holds a big promise for effective heart repair for ailing people.

Stem cell research

During my visit to various laboratories in India, I happened to see the beginning of stem cell research for different purposes including brain research. I would like to share with you an important stem cell research application in the field of cardiology. When I met Dr.P. Venugopal, Director, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) a famous cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon, he told me about his experiences. He said in one of the cardiac diseases, where conventional medical and surgical treatment were ineffective because of the affliction of the heart muscle, use of autologous bone marrow stem cells implantation into the diseased heart muscles had been applied in order to improve the function of heart muscle. This kind of application of this procedure is the latest and very few cases have been done in the world, the first time in India. This is expected to open new frontiers in the treatment of patients for regeneration of heart muscles, thereby giving new hope for the patients suffering from end stage heart disease. I would request participation of many medical institutions in such a promising area of research.

Conclusion

We need good hearts to treat the ailing patients, we need helping hands to remove the pain, and we need beautiful minds to give happiness to the patients. In this context, I would like to recall and share the essence of a poem. When God first created the human being, it took million and millions of years to get the right human form. He went on experimenting and finally he realized the human configuration he wanted. Once realized, He gave life. First the man opened his eyes and said, ?I thank you, Almighty. Second thing he did, he smiled. Almighty was very happy, that his creation has done two right things. Then, God was preoccupied for some time, later when God looked at the man and found something is missing in him. He generated the fire in milli-seconds and created Shaitan (devil) out of the fire. He asked Shaitan to prostrate before the first human being as he is His image. The Shaitan refused to prostrate. He said, ?Oh! Almighty you have created me out of fire, I am a superior creation?. The God was taken back. He thought for a while and decided to integrate the man and Shaitan into a one single system, that are the human beings what we are. If we want to become close to Almighty God, let our mind and hand be kind to human beings who are suffering particularly with disease. That means we have defeated the Shaitan within us. The question is who will defeat whom? May God bless you to be close to God?s image. Your kindness will flow through your actions, thousands and thousands of patients will be relieved of the pain and they will say ?Thank you doctor? with the smile. That means you are in God?s image.

Once again let me congratulate the award winners. My Best Wishes to all of your for success in your missions.

May God Bless You.