It’s one of the rarest instances of a student-disciple relationship between a Kerala doctor and the senior-most dermatologist in the United Kingdom that paved the way for the development of the world’s first integrative medicine for the successful treatment of Lymphatic Filariasis and Lymphedema.
When the 91-year-old emeritus professor of dermatology Dr Terence J Ryan of Oxford University, United Kingdom and Dr S R Narahari, 59, of the Institute of Applied Dermatology (IAD) in Kasaragod, Kerala, look back at their days in Oxford and Kerala, where they worked tirelessly without rest, they both feel that it was their shared passion to find a treatment for the most debilitating disease of Lymphatic Filariasis that gave them the strength to work together from 1997.
It all began with an email communication in 1997 from Dr Terence in London to Dr Narahari, who had to travel a few miles from his home in a village in Kasargod to a government institute in the district to get access to a computer to read the emails. “I had never seen or used a computer at that time. To read each email, I had to travel miles and spend Rs five. When I look back, I am really thankful to that government institute for giving me access to their computers to read the emails,” Dr Narahari said.
Things fell into place when Dr Terence finally traveled to Kochi in 2002 for the first World Ayurveda Congress and met Dr Narahari at the venue.
“It was one of the most significant turning points in my life. Dr Terence agreed to guide and mentor me in my research on developing an integrative medicine combining Ayurveda, allopathy, and yoga for treating Lymphatic Filariasis and Lymphedema,” Dr Narahari said.
Impressed by the work done by Dr. Narahari with limited resources, Dr Terence took Dr Narahari to Oxford, where he was given training to document all the research data in a proper scientific manner and to develop an evidence-based, comprehensive integrated treatment protocol defining the role of each branch of medicine in the successful treatment of Lymphatic Filariasis and Lymphedema.
Now, the integrative medicine developed by Dr Narahari under the mentoring and guidance of Dr Terence has gained international attention after they could scientifically publish evidence-based data successfully treating over 4000 patients.
“We have proved that our integrative medicine is the world’s first result-oriented treatment for Lymphatic Filariasis and Lymphedema. We have strong evidence-based data collected by successfully treating over 4000 patients. We will now focus on taking our integrative medicine to a global stage to make it accessible to millions of patients who are affected by the debilitating disease of Lymphatic Filariasis,” Dr Terence told “Open Digest.”
Dr Terence said India’s traditional medicine of Ayurveda and Yoga played a crucial role in the development of the integrative medicine, which also uses modern bio-medicine to treat infections. “We are really grateful to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) for providing adequate funds to offer our free treatment to thousands of patients in India and provide relief to them,” Dr Terence said.
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