P V Manesh, a Malayali NSG Commando, who saved 40 lives in the Mumbai terror attack and got injured in a grenade attack that left the right side of his body paralysed, lay unconscious for over a month after the 26/11 attack.
Still living with a shrapnel in his head, he is making a slow and steady recovery at Kannur, under treatment of the Kottakkal Arya Vaidyasala.
Unfortunately, he has been asked to pay from his pocket for the treatment expenses.
Unbelievable as it may sound, the ancient science of ayurveda is not recognised by the armed forces of the country of its origin.
So much so that an online campaign ‘Include Ayurveda’ has been launched for the same.
‘’The Armed Forces has been very supportive to me right from day one after the attack.
But I wish they would change the rules regarding the medical reimbursements,’’ said Manesh who has regained his speech after the ayurveda treatment at Kottakkal.
A Shaurya Chakra awardee, all that Manesh remembers was seeing a grenade that was hurled across by a terrorist at the Trident Oberoi.
‘’I was trying to prevent it from exploding.
Unfortunately, it burst in two seconds right above my head.
When I regained consciousness, they told me a part of my skull had blown off.
Of the three shrapnel that got lodged in my head two were removed, one is too deep to be dislodged,’’ he says, from his home in Azhikode at Kannur, where he lives with his wife Sheema and son Yadukrishna.
After undergoing traditional ayurveda therapy, Manesh has regained his speech and a degree of mobility.
‘’I can actually move around like a toddler,’’ he said.
Yet, the Armed Forces do not think it is necessary to reimburse the treatment expense.
The ‘Include Ayurveda’ campaign demands formulation of clear guidelines for inclusion of ayurveda under authorised medical reimbursement for members of the Indian armed forces and implementation of the same.
The campaign is spearheaded by AyurVAID Hospitals, a pioneering chain of new generation ayurveda hospitals, dedicated to applying ayurveda to solve modern health problems.
‘’It is a sad day when ayurveda is disregarded in the country of its origin,’’ said Rajiv Vasudevan, CEO of AyurVaid Hospitals, that has branches in Kochi, Chennai and Bangalore.
The ‘Include Ayurveda’ petition demands the intervention of the Union Defence Minister, and the Chiefs of Staff of the Army, Navy, and Air Force to constitute a special committee/ task-force comprising relevant stakeholders from within the armed forces as well as from the ayurveda medical services sector to formulate clear guidelines.
‘’We do not say that ayurveda can be the treatment of choice for all diseases - it depends on the roga (disease), and the roga- rogi awastha or diseasepatient status.
We respect that genuine concerns and constraints may exist - some real, some based on ignorance of what ayurveda is capable of -- and perhaps also because of the resistance to change,’’ said the petition that can be accessed online at
change.
org/petitions/ include-ayurvedaunder- indian-armed-forces- medical-reimbursement- rules> .
Incidentally, as of now, there are 8595 signatories to the petition.