Sane Care Madhavbaug uses a blend of yoga and ayurveda to treat heart patients. Its scientifically proven methods have not just got global acceptance and but also helped establish yoga and ayurveda as reliable ways of treating patients By Sachin Jagdale
United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) declared June 21 as International Day of Yoga and in the true sense, Yoga got its much deserved and waited global recognition. In fact, even before this declaration, across many parts of the world researchers were busy judging yoga on a scientific basis. As India is the birth place of yoga, this development is a proud moment for its countrymen.
While rest of the world took a long time to accept yoga as a science-based method, in India, it has long been practised as a scientific technique to cure or improve various diseases conditions. There are many healthcare setups in the country that have combined yoga with ayurveda to treat patients with some complicated forms of health ailments. One such healthcare set up is Sane Care Madhavbaug which is an BSEN ISO 9001:2001 certified, Ayurvedic Cardiac Rehabilitation Center. They claim to be world’s first and largest organisation that treats heart patient with the help of ayurveda and yoga.
Making ayurveda mainstream
Dr Rohit Sane, Founder, Madhavbaug, is an MBBS graduate from Aurangabad University. Besides bagging a fellowship in Cardiac Rehabilitation from Apollo Hospitals, he is also an Ex-Fellow of Royal Society of Health (UK). In the quest of treating heart patients with ayurveda, he started his first venture, Vaidya Sane Ayurvedic Panchakarma Center in 1999. The response was good and it paved the way for his entrepreneurial journey.
However, taking ayurveda mainstream did not prove to be a cakewalk for Sane. In the initial days, Sane had to expend a lot of energy to convince his own medical staff about the potential of ayurveda. He worked hard to keep ayurvedic therapies safe and hygienic. Ayurveda has always been perceived as a traditional form of treatment and making people believe in it to treat heart ailments was a Herculean task. But Sane, with his scientific approach, slowly and steadily managed to garner the support of the patients. Today, besides heart ailments, Madhavbaug also treats diseases like diabetes, blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity, stress etc.
Holistic healing and yoga
Modern ways of treating heart blockages are generally invasive and these techniques would not just give physical discomfort to the patient but also drain him emotionally and financially. Madhavbaug’s holistic treatment gave the patients a sientifically-proven alternative to take care of their hearts.
Achievements
- July 2010, Beijing: The copyrighted procedure “Sampurna Hriday Shuddhikaran” got accreditation at the World Cardiology Conference held in Beijing, China by the American Heart Association (AHA).
- July 2011, Hong-Kong: Madhavbaug’s “Sampurna Hriday Shuddhikaran” has been accepted by the world’s most renowned medical Journal Lancet / JACC in co-ordination with the journal of American Association of Cardiology.
- April 2012 : Dubai: “Improving cardiac effort tolerance in chronic heart failure: Role of the noninvasive herbal procedure Sampurna Hriday Shuddhikaran” has been accepted as an Oral Abstract Presentation at the World Congress of Cardiology, 2012 held in Dubai-UAE by the World Heart Federation.
Sane explains how exactly Madhavbaug helps heart patients get rid of their blockages. He says, “Madhavbaug treats heart diseases with copyrighted ayurvedic panchakarma therapies in addition to diet, exercise, yoga, and pranayam. Blockages appear due to excess accumulation of cholesterol in the inner lining of the blood vessels. These blockages may or may not hamper the blood supply to the heart. None of the therapies in the world remove blockages, neither angioplasty, nor bypass nor Madhavbaug. All the therapies are aimed to increase the blood supply to the heart by either widening the affected artery or bypassing the affected artery with a new one.”
He adds, “Madhavbaug, with the help of panchakarma, diet, yoga and prananyam aims to increase the blood supply to the heart by improving the endothelium of the affected artery. Yoga and exercise also help to generate coronary collaterals, building coronary reserve of the heart. Moreover, as per reverse cholesterol transport mechanism, the fats stuck in the internal lining of the artery can be reversed by exercises and yoga leading to reversal of blockages.”
International recognition
The Western world has always looked at Indian traditional treatments with scepticism. However, Madhavbaug’s cardiac treatment, with the combining ayurveda and yoga, has been lauded by global authorities as well. Madhavbaug has presented several research papers in national as well as international allopathic cardiac research journals like Lancet, Circulation etc.
Spreading its wings
Over its more than a decade long journey, Madhavbaug has treated over one lakh heart patients through its two hospitals in Khopoli and Nagpur and has more than 130 centres all over Maharashtra. The Khopoli branch has features like 160 metres jogging track, 1,20,000 sq ft of lush green lawns, 25 self contained studio apartments, nine mud cottages, meditation centre, eight cabins of panchkarma centre, intensive cardiac unit with defibrillator, ambulance on call, 24-hours in-house doctor and well equipped kitchen with dining room. The Nagpur branch is spread over six acres of greenery. The Panchkarma Department has the capacity to treat 20 patients. Other amenities include a walking track, well equipped ICU, cardiac ambulance, examination rooms panchmahabhoot temple, yoga and meditation hall, spacious canteen, a residential building with 20 patient rooms and a spacious car parking facility.
Paving the road ahead
According to Sane, a huge chunk of the Indian population is still in need of affordable and effective heart care. He wants his scientifically proven holistic way of cardiac care to reach as many heart patients as possible. Sane says, “I want to improve quality and quantity of life of heart patients. Performing one lakh free stress ECG/ stress tests for senior citizens this year is also one of my goals. I want to reduce the three year mortality and hospitalisation rate of chronic heart patients below 10 per cent. Madhavbaug is striving towards combining modern scientific cardiology with ayurvedic science for the upliftment of human health. I find delivering affordable, safe, non invasive cardiac care for chronic heart patients through a wide network of multi-disciplinary cardiac care clinics as one of the most important targets for us. My staff of 1400, which includes 200 doctors, is well equipped to take care of our patients.”
Announcement of June 21 as International Day of Yoga was the result of India’s constant efforts towards showcasing Yoga on a global platform. Some of the key developments that led to the announcement are as follows.
- United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) declared June 21 as International Day of Yoga. This declaration came after a call by Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi while addressing UN General Assembly.
- More than 177 countries supported this move with 175 countries co-sponsoring the resolution. This initiative found support from many global leaders. At first, the Prime Minister of Nepal Sushil Koirala supported Modi’s proposal. More than 177 countries including US, Canada, China have supported this move.
- It had the highest number of co-sponsors ever for any UNGA Resolution of such nature. On Dec 11, 2014, the 193 – member U.N. General Assembly approved by consensus a resolution establishing June 21 as ‘International Day of Yoga’.
Source: Wikipedia
He informs, “Madhavbaug is offering state franchisees to expand its footprint in the country. Though currently Madhavbaug does not have any international presence we are in talks with few international healthcare firms for the same.”
There are many holistic healthcare centres across India, however, very few of them have attained Madhavbaug’s stature. Its treatments are scientifically proven and that is why they are accepted globally. Other such healthcare centres need to follow Madhavbaug’s footsteps. India has millions of patients in the country who cannot afford modern therapies. They will benefit if many more Madhavbaugs emerge to help them.