Forty-four km due south from Imphal and about three
kilometres off National Highway 39 that leads to Myanmar at Kakching lies the
Anandsingh Yoga and Nature Cure Research Hospital. Managed by the Kha Manipur
Yoga and and Nature Cure Association, the hospital in itself is a small 10-bed
affair. But it is here that “miracles” are performed for those affected by
paralysis, backache, sciatica, hypertension, obesity, nerve and stomach
ailments, gastro-intestinal problems and peptic ulcers. No medicines are
prescribed except for vitamin supplements and that, too, for the mental
satisfaction of patients. And all this is happening in the lap of nature at a
location flanked by a 20-acre hill spread adorned with pine trees and a
two-hectare plain area where the hospital is located.
The treatment regimen is completely natural and starts with a
weeklong fast during which patients live on lime juice and honey, supplemented
by fruits in the second week and, thereafter, on a single meal a day. The day
starts with the doctor’s round where blood pressure is checked and treatment
prescribed — which could be a hip, spine, foot and hand bath or a steam
bath.
In the afternoon, a body massage session supervised by two
masseurs ensures that no part of your body is left unattended. The evening
sessions are confined to treatments that involve traction, blood circulatory
machines or electrical massages.
Central to the idea of this therapy is the detoxification
process, which, besides the fasting technique, also includes being administered
an enema to remove all impurities from the body. The end result is a wonderful
experience as those suffering from high blood pressure suddenly notice a plunge
in the level. The overweight begin to heave sighs of relief on noticing their
waistlines reducing inch after inch. The radiant glow returning to once sick
faces is enough reason to stop looking for expensive health spas and beauty
salons.
Dr Mayanglanbam Rajkumar is the soft-spoken 55-year-old CEO
who started this hospital in 1983. He is assisted by Dr Amrabati Devi and they
have dedicated staff like Mohon and Sharat, the male masseurs, and Menaka and
Ilina, the female masseurs, who also double as health therapists. They, in turn,
are assisted by Elvina, Juliana, Rosea, Bijaya and Sonia, all trainee therapists
who have signed up for a six-month course following which they will fan out to
the big metropolises in mainland India to seek jobs. Considering that these
girls come from a rural background and have hardly been out of the state, it is
significant that they are mentally prepared to seek jobs outside the state in
hospitals, health resorts and spas in five-star hotels.
The majority of patients here involve those who have
suffered from paralysis following strokes, etc, and had spent a fortune seeking
cures outside the state. Burly Manipur Police ex-havildar Lala Singh had to be
carried by four persons when he came in three months ago. Now he takes evening
walks with the help of a walking stick. For several others like him, relief
comes by way of painstaking structured therapy that depends entirely on nature
and it’s various gifts. One woman suffering from acute peptic ulcers would groan
in pain after consuming lime juice. Dr Rajkumar then prescribed plain water and
thereafter she was made to consume the paste of a plant known to have antiseptic
properties and locally called Terapaibi. Within a forthnight she was cured and
discharged.
Earlier, the hospital also housed a community care centre for
those afflicted with HIV/Aids but it had to be closed down after the National
Aids Control Organisation ruled that all hospices or community care centres had
to be managed by the respective state’s aids control societies. But what remains
is the deaddiction and rehabilitation centre, called Healing Point.
This is a 30-bed centre for deaddiction and rehabilitation.
With drugs and alcohol abuse on a rampage in Manipur, the staff here have a busy
time. A rehab centre with a difference, it admits addicts affected by HIV and
does not discriminate. An HIV-prone addict called Johnny Depp because he
resembled the Hollywood actor in his Pirates of the Caribbean garb would ask his
counsellor every evening for his LSD fix. When asked to explain LSD, he would
call it his Life Saving Drug. Then there was Yaima, admitted for alcoholism.
Cured, he told the staff he would return with his father, who was an even more
chronic alcoholic. Return he did and admitted his father, stating that “we
cannot have two alcoholics in the same house”. Then there was SK, a former
militant who’d had his guts blown out in an ambush by Army personnel on their
patrol. He took to drinking heavily because of harassment by the police upon his
release from hospital, a clear case of post-traumatic shock withdrawal syndrome.
The staff at Healing Point took good care of him and others who have made the
comeback from trauma and addiction include Arun, Boinao, Ajitsen, Ajit and
Enao.
Funded by various agencies of government of India and foreign
donors, patients are charged a bare minimum — Rs.200 a month at Healing Point
and about Rs.7,000 a month at the hospital, for lodging and treatment expenses.