Hi-tech cardiology may be taking a u-turn in the island as more than one hundred heart patients undergo a special natural therapy to unblock cholesterol and plaque clogged coronary arteries. Developed by Indian cardiologist Satish Gupta, the therapy also aims at preventing cholesterol blockages in high risk patients and those who have already undergone coronary bypass surgery or angioplasty.

Arteries taken from the patient's leg and used to bypass  coronary arteries clogged with cholsterol and plaque are often blocked only some months after surgery in some cases. The stent, a small and costly mesh tube inserted in the coronary artery during angioplasty to keep blocked arteries open gets entirely clogged after some years. Sudden and early death occurs in both cases.

"A new approach to this problem had to be found", says Dr. Satish Gupta who has himself been a victim of a massive heart attack and known near-death experience in the very hospital where he worked.

After this incident, he developed his therapy at the hill station of Mount Abu in Rajasthan, India. It is based on diet, exercise and a special meditation program which slows the heart beat and the brain cycle, thus empowering the patient to achieve self-healing and self-control according to this Indian cardiologist. 

Gupta's natural therapy has so far given amazing results in India. The most amazed Mauritian has been Dr. Sunil Guness, cardiac surgeon and director of the Cardiac Centre of Pamplemousses.

Dr. Guness had an insight into the "miracles" of Mount Abu when a patient from the Cardiac Centre, one Mr. Nirmal of Triolet, went to seek a new lease of life from Dr. Gupta in Rajasthan. Mr Nirmal had three arteries and the aorta blocked to such an extent that no angioplasty or surgery could be carried out. He was put on medication to ease his pain and he knew that he had nothing to expect but death.

It was then that the medical wing of the Brahmara Kumaris - a charity offering meditation and healthy lifestyle programs -tendered a helping hand to Mr. Nirmal and arranged for him to follow Dr. Gupta's therapy in Rajastan. The patient was so sick that he could barely walk and had to be wheel-chaired. No doctor accepted to sign any certificate pertaining to his capacity of surviving an eight-hour flight to India. He was thus barred from boarding the plane.

Mr. Nirmal managed, however, to obtain the signature of a doctor with the help of a high executive of Air Mauritius. He left the departure hall on a wheel chair. One month later, he strode vigorously out of the arrival hall of the Mauritian airport.

Soon word went around that he had been miraculously cured without any surgery. Doctors at the Cardiac Centre remained sceptical and a new angiography was carried out. This medical test which uses x-ray and a special dye to show in real time the inside of the heart, blood flow  inside the coronary arteries and the extent to which arteries are blocked by plaque, proved that Mr. Nirmal no longer had dangerously blocked coronary arteries.

"I was amazed at the result achieved in such a short lapse of time on Mr Nirmal's clogged arteries", says Dr. Sunil Guness who studied in France where he achieved excellence in heart and lung transplant surgery before returning to serve Mauritius at the Pamplemousses Cardiac Centre.

Now a stout supporter of Dr. Gupta's natural therapy, Dr. Guness encouraged most of the centre's patients to attend the five-day residential therapy organised in Mauritius by Dr Gupta last week.

The five-day therapy, dubbed "Art of healthy and happy living for coronary artery disease patients", was free of charge. Participants had only to pay for their hotel room. Special high fibre and low cholesterol vegetarian breakfast, dinner, supper and fruit breaks were supplied free to the participants by the Brahma Kumaris meditation centre. An ex-university professor, a journalist, a car mechanic, a businessman, a trade union leader, a retired civil servant, an ex-university chancellor, a practising doctor,  two school teachers, housewives and old age pensioners were among those who participated in this special therapy at La Plantation beach hotel in Balaclava, on the west coast of the island.

Encouraged by Mr. Nirmal and Dr Gupta, cardiac patients- old and young, men and women, in sari or in short - crowded the hotel's beach morning and afternoon for physical exercise under the supervision of a medical team, which the cardiac centre had moved to the hotel. A defibrillator and an ambulance team were kept handy, just in case ....

But no cardiac patient collapsed, neither during the daily exercises, nor during two different bangra dancing parties which concluded the therapy. After five days of strict vegetarian diet, of getting up at 3.45 am, of meditating and exercising morning and afternoon on the beach, the participants left the hotel with the hope of maintaining this new lifestyle in which they have been taught to banish anger, fear, depression, haste, disease and, more particularly, stress. All patients went home with a special gift. A series of charts to note their new daily behaviour and follow their progress on their new and difficult path to survival.

Patients on the waiting list at the Cardiac Centre now have high hopes of bypassing the heart bypass or angioplasty. But only those who can persevere in the new lifestyle imparted by Dr. Gupta can hope for a new life lease without surgery.

To stick to his new lifestyle and make the most of his new life lease, Mr Nirmal charts almost a dozen times per day his meditations, eating habits and behaviour, good or bad. He then draws plans for correction if ever he is not toeing the line imposed by Dr. Gupta's team.

A daunting task and a highly disciplined life. "It is the ransom of survival for all cardiac patients", says Mr. Nirmal who has surrendered himself to voluntary social work.

Unfortunately, his iron will is not something given to every cardiac patient. It an acquired lifestyle which requires considerable efforts and self-discipline.

Raj Jugernauth

A new angiography showed that Mr Nirmal no longer had blocked arteries. Dr. Sunil Guness says he was amazed at the result achieved.

More modern hospitals at the end of March The hospital infrastructure is recovering its health! With a huge investment of Rs 719 million, Souillac, Beau-Bassin and Victoria hospitals are set to change their look for the benefit of patients and medical staff. So, no more rats, unhygienic conditions and lack of maintenance in at least these three of our hospitals, according to expectations.

The changes are all due this month. All these hospitals were built decades ago. The out-patients and casualty departments, the SAMU unit, the pharmacy and a lecture theatre will all be refurbished or rebuilt. Brown Sequard will also undergo major renovations. A new wing with 250 beds will be constructed to cater for "acute cases". Two high security wards for male and female patients respectively will also be included in the new building.

Patients who are staying at the hospital for long-term treatment will however have to wait a little longer to benefit from more modern premises at Brown Sequard.

Souillac will now be the place to go for high-tech surgicalo perations according to plans. Thanks to its improved infrastructure, this hospital will not only cater for patients coming from the highly congested Nehru hospital of Rose-Belle, but patients from the whole island for specific operations.

Raj Jugernauth