THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: What kind of a cardiologist tells heart patients to avoid going under the knife? The ilk of Dr Bimal Chhajer, a former cardiologist at AIIMS, who has devised a method of treatment to prevent and even reverse heart diseases. He was in the city recently to deliver a lecture on ‘Science and Art of Living (SAAOL)’, a treatment which has 65,000 success stories across India.
You would be surprised at the key component that makes it so successful - education. “Today, we have about 8 to 10 crore heart patients in the country. Among whom, 50 lakh die of heart attack every year. Unfortunately, these patients can be easily saved if they are aware,” says Chhajer. Take an example. Most are fooled by food products which proudly claim to be zero cholesterol. A product may not have cholesterol but would have triglycerides which are equally dangerous, he says.
The doctor says that heart surgeries meddle with nature’s machines. In 2006, SAAOL also added External Counter Pulsation (ECP) programme, which is called Natural Bypass. He says that normally, the capillaries branching out from arteries are not fully used. If blood is pumped into the heart with some external pressure, these capillaries get opened up. Normally, ECP is advised for patients only after doctors find that they are not suitable candidates for a bypass or angioplasty. Chhajer says that even in the government hospitals, there is a big racket of corrupt doctors who aim to please companies that manufacture medicines and stents.
He realised the need for awareness, when at Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in New Delhi, one of his patients, despite 15 doctors pulling out all their stops in a three-hour surgical battle, passed away. “I started thinking why it happened. The doctor has to cure, not lead the patient to death. I realised that the patient had been taking medicines, but was not following a healthy lifestyle,” he says. Dr Chhajer felt that it was his responsibility as a doctor to educate patients.
He moved to AIIMS and continued to research on a non-invasive method of treating heart disease. During this time, he came to know about Dr Dean Ornish in the US, who was also following a similar method of treatment. “It is very difficult to change the system in government hospitals. When I was fully convinced about the results of my research, I decided to move out and start a setup on my own,” he says. And he named his centre SAAOL, which in his mother tongue Marwari also means perfect.
At SAAOL, it is not just the patients but their spouses also who have to enrol for the programme. For, along with yoga, exercises, meditation and counselling, the couple are taught how to cook zero-oil food. “Many feel that food will not be tasty without oil. So we get the family to taste food cooked using our method. Then they are taught how to do it. We have published close to 1,000 recipes covering various cuisines, using absolutely no oil,” he says.
One couple to benefit from the treatment is former President Pratibha Patil, whose husband, Devisingh Ransingh Shekhawat, continues to follow the SAAOL method of treatment. “He has never had a heart surgery. I have treated former President Shankar Dayal Sharma as well. He just wanted to try out the lifestyle plans,” says Dr Chhajer.
One of his success stories, Emami Group co-founder R S Aggarwal, came forward to promote SAAOL ten years ago. “A year after his bypass surgery, R S Aggarwal came to me, having been advised a second bypass. His cholesterol was 240 and nobody had told him that was high. When he got treated, he told me that he wants to promote this method. Ever since, he has been sponsoring the ‘SAAOL Times’ magazine. He has been paying me Rs 2,00,000 per month for the past ten years,” says Dr Chhajer.
The SAAOL camps are almost free of cost, he says.