Answers to holistic health

Dr Neelam Nath, 70, has been running a charitable clinic, Suneera Charitable Center for Health & Education, in Greater Kailash, for over four decades now. A telemedicine expert, she served at AIIMS, Delhi (1969-75) and St Peter’s Hospital, Chertsey, United Kingdom (1975-77), and now serves on healthcare platforms of Practo, Lybrate and Mfine. She just turned debutant author with HolyStick — a Holistic Therapy that talks about treating illnesses without resorting to allopathic medicines. It attempts to integrate the spiritual, physical, mental and emotional aspects of one’s personality for a deeper understanding of one’s self. The book documents the side effects of allopathic medicines, and the alternate natural routes to build immunity. “This book is crux of my own life journey, and I hope it will help change how you look at life,” says Dr Nath. Excerpts:

An allopathic doctor talking about treating illnesses without modern drugs seems strange.
Yes, I am a doctor, but I am a COPD patient as well. I have been on oral medicines since 1983. I had a heart attack in 1996, and was advised a bypass surgery. But being a single parent (husband had passed away by then) of three daughters, I couldn’t afford to be hospitalised. I started taking Sorbitrate for relieving chest pain. I also began renewing my knowledge of modern medicine through seminars, and books at British Council Library. I put into practice on my own body what all I learnt, changed my lifestyle, as a result of which the cardiac illness was reversed.
In 2008, I had to undergo a complicated bypass surgery because of weak lungs and heart. But I came back home, alive and functional, both mentally and physically. It was then that I decided to write a book.

How did you manage time amid your busy schedule?
Discipline helps. I usually jot down a few lines regarding my observation of a patient after consultation. I also note down the queries that come to my mind regarding drug dosage prescribed to a patient, especially young adolescents. And then I look for answers to reduce the dosage, in books, in food, and lifestyle changes that can lead to holistic health. This book is the result of all these findings. A simple example is coconut water is a far more potent diuretic than any pharma medicine.
  I decided to write this book 13 years ago, but being busy I couldn’t. I found time in the lockdown.

What was the reaction of your colleagues to the book?
Surprise! Most of my colleagues are not net savvy and are impressed by the way I lead my life, facing all odds.

You have been into telemedicine for long though it gained ground only last year.
Telemedicine is the future of healthcare. I have been practicing it since its inception in 2014. During lockdown, when hospitals were closed, telemedicine acted as a boon, and boomed. At the end of the day, it gives me a reason to say, ‘Thank you God for letting me help girls and women who are living in remote corners of India and have no doctors to go to’.