Centre urged to adopt IAD protocol as national model

Treating elephantiasis using modern medicine, yoga and ayurveda

Kasaragod: The Kerala-based Institute of Applied Dermatology (IAD), which has developed a protocol using modern medicine, ayurveda and yoga to treat elephantiasis, has urged the Union government to adopt the procedure as a national model.

The institute is one of the leading lymphoeda and integrative medicine skin hospitals in the world and is recognised as a primary destination for treatment of lymphatic filariasis (lymphoedema) in the country and South-East Asia.  

It offers integrative treatment for vitiligo, psoriasis and lichen planus also and has so far successfully treated over 10,000 people since 1999, of whom 4,000 were filariasis patients. 

"Using modern medicine, ayurveda and yoga, the institute has been successfully treating patients using its protocol for treatment for elephantiasis," IAD chairman Dr S R Narahari, also a leading dermatologist, said.

Elephantiasis is the world's largest disabling disease affecting 78 countries across the globe and WHO has classified it as a 'neglected disease of the poor', he said.  

Very little research has been done on this tropical disease and both biomedical pharmaceutical industry and governments have ignored it all these years, said.  

"It is high time the Union government adopted this protocol as a national model for filariasis and propagated it through public-private partnership," he told PTI.

India, which accounts for one-third of the disease burden in the world, is one of the worst hit countries as many have been affected, he said. 

Out of the 30 million (three crore) filarial cases in Asia, there are 23 million (2.3 crore) in India-- that is about 80 per cent. 

While Bihar accounts for 17 per cent, Kerala (15.7 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (14.6 per cent) and Odisha are the most endemic. 

Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Kerala, Karnataka, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal comprise over 86 per cent of micro-filariae carriers and 97 per cent of the disease cases in the country, according to Narahari.