Joint ayurvedic-allopathy study on ophthalmology

KOCHI: For the first time an ayurveda-allopathy collaborative study on ophthalmology is on the anvil. Considering that ophthalmology is not commonly practised in ayurveda, this could be a pioneering study.


The Kerala-based ayurvedic speciality eye hospital Sreedhareeyam Ayurvedic Eye Hospital and Research Centre is planning for a joint study on eye disease Keratoconus with Rajendra Prasad Institute for Opthalmology of All India Institute of Medical Sciences.

The ayurvedic hospital has already conducted a series of discussions with Dr Rasik Vajpayee, professor of Rajendra Prasad Institute, a spokesman of Sreedhareeyam said. Keratoconus is a disease in which the eye ball bulges out taking a conical shape with gradual loss of sight. Sreedhareeyam has treated this disease through ayurvedic methods.

The collaborative study is expected to begin from January 2007. The doctors from AIIMS visited the ayurvedic hospital during a national seminar on the disease held here this week in association with Ayush and Central Council for Research in Ayurveda and Siddha.

Sreedhareeyam is perhaps the only speciality ayurvedic hospital in the country treating ophthalmology patients in the classical ayurvedic method. The hospital headed by Dr N.P.P.Namboothiri is owned by traditional Namboothiri family, who have been treating eye related problems for generations. The hospital has been getting a lot of patients from North India in the last few years.