A month ago, the Kerala government had approved the project for testing the efficacy of Ayurvedic drugs in the treatment of various diseases, including cancer, using the most modern technological tools. The accord for the pioneering venture was reached between Dehradun-based Vaidya Chandra Prakash Foundation and the Regional Cancer Centre (RCC) here. The move will help test ancient Ayurvedic methods of treatment scientifically at the well- equipped RCC.

Foundation director Vaidya Balendu Prakash, a well-known practitioner of indigenous systems of medicine and a member of President KR Narayanan's panel of physicians, describes Ayurveda as "the knowledge of life". He treats cancer patients following Rasa Sastra, one of the eight clinical specialities in Ayurveda.

According to Prakash, thetraditional systems of indigenous medicine, as they are being practised in the country, lack standardisation in process, quality, research and consistency in finished products and efficacy data.

He, therefore, suggests a scientific blend of Ayurveda and modern systems. "Ayurveda principles need validation in today's terminology. If governments took the necessary steps, the vast horizons of Ayurveda would expand further," he says. At an earlier seminar here, Prakash presented half a dozen cancer patients who, he claimed, were once diagnosed to have the deadly disease by established cancer hospitals in the country but were now completely cured after being treated with his Ayurvedic formulations.

Prakash is credited with curing more than 2,000 patients since 1960, when he treated his first patient suffering from Hodgkins Lymphoma. Noting that the traditional mode of treatment is inexpensive and has no side-effects, Prakash says he is using the same medicine which his father, also an indigenous medicalpractitioner, used, but with slight modifications. He feels scientists should find out how these medicines proved to be effective.

According to him, an acidic medium and a weak immune system are the basic causes of cancer. Lifestyle and food habits could also lead to the disease. Out of the 2,000 patients treated by him, nearly 70 per cent were vegetarians and not used to drinking or smoking.