By IANS
Nagpur : Popular yoga guru Ramdev has accepted the Indian Medical Association’s (IMA) challenge to cure cancer patients and allow clinical trials of his treatment within three years.
“I have already cured hundreds of patients and presented the medical records of 35 of them to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS),” Ramdev told a panel of IMA members during an interaction organized by the Nagpur Union of Working Journalists here Sunday.
The interaction was held after the yoga guru Saturday called for a face-to-face discussion with IMA president-elect Ashok Adhaoo in response to the latter’s challenge to him a day earlier to cure a representative sample of cancer patients in Maharashtra’s Nagpur town, about 850 km from state capital Mumbai.
Three days before that, Ramdev had stated at a press conference here that modern medical science was based on ignorance and its practitioners are seeking to keep people perpetually sick. He had also called for jettisoning the allopathic system in favour of the traditional Indian medical science of Ayurveda.
“What I had actually said when a reporter asked me to react to a statement that my prescriptions and treatment were unscientific was that science seemed to have fallen prey to ignorance,” the yoga guru clarified when the IMA functionaries urged him to repeat what he had said.
“But I have never denigrated the allopathic medical system per se nor told my followers to shun it. All I do is to point out that like every other system, it too has its limitations,” Ramdev said.
He told reporters: “I have treated cases from the graveyard – the ones the doctors have given up on and those in the rehabilitation and palliation stage.”
Stating that yoga and pranayam can cure cancer of blood, throat, breast, pituitary glands and prostate glands, Ramdev said his work on stress hormones would be published in international medical journals within three years.
The yoga guru with a large global following told IMA panellists that he always recommends surgical operations in cases of large cancerous tumours and thick arterial blockages as well as allopathic treatment for diseases like malaria and tuberculosis.
“I also agree that there is no alternative to modern medical science when it comes to management of acute situations and cases of accidents”, Ramdev said.
On their part, IMA members reiterated their appreciation of the power of yoga in inducing a state of well-being and boosting a patient’s immunity.
The doctors said they strongly recommend yoga and pranayam to their patients and many of them practice it regularly.
However, panellists urged Ramdev to desist from making tall claims and sweeping statements that the therapy was a panacea.
“We expect you to demonstrate a greater sense of responsibility and restraint during your discourse because you wield tremendous influence on the minds of millions of your followers the world over. You must not say anything that would harm the society,” an IMA member told Ramdev.