He is not your run of the mill quack. Nor is he a barefoot faith healer. Though his achievements are indicative of this, Dr. Gunwant Devendra Oswal, a pioneer in the field of medicine based at Pune, does not boast of his work done in the field of cerebral palsy and mental retardation.

Dr. G. D. Oswal who was recently in Delhi to attend the 11th World Congress on Mental Retardation has one mission in his life: treatment of victims of cerebral palsy and mental retardation. It is common knowledge that patients suffering from cerebral palsy and mental retardation have only two outlets – physiotherapy and symptomatic drug therapy. Moreover, these therapies are fruitful only if the respective centres in the brain are working.

Dr. Oswal’s formulation directly stimulates the brain center which results in a change many times more effective than correctional methods.

His patients, on a majority basis, are children who are afflicted by cerebral palsy and mental retardation. He has recorded more than 400 cases of children. They are being treated by G-therapy a process he has developed himself.

His procedure of treating each patient involves a video-recording of every stage of the child’s progress along with a regular monitoring of the changes. The suave oswal admits, "There is no perfect cure of panaecea for diseases like cerebral palsy and mental retardation.

"But the rate of improvement depends on the damage suffered by the brain."

His G-therapy process comprises a variety of bio-chemics (tissue), shrubs and herbs and their application in the treatment of mentally retarded persons.

This process may be traced back to 1970 when he acquired his bachelor’s degree in Ayurvedic medicine and surgery and decided not to go in for routine practice but to take up a cases concerning problems of the central nervous system.

This posed a challenge for him. Because patients were known not to respond to any conventional treatment in those days.

"After an attack of paralysis, a patient can only undergo physiotherapy which may help him to improve his speech or enhance movement on a minute scale. The results of my G-therapy over a period of 24 years have been very encouraging and indicative of progress in the mental and physical build-up of a child," says Dr Oswal.

These results have given a great deal of solace to the parents of the children afflicted with cerebral palsy and mental retardation.

They have also given a ray of hope for several other parents of such children who were earlier bereft of any hope.

It may seem incredible, but it is true that even in this era of mind boggling discoveries and breakthroughs in science and technology, medical science, unfortunately, has nothing to its credit for substantially helping parents of mentally retarded children.

The medical sciences boast of a host of senior and renowned physicians. Yet, they have been groping in the dark for knowledge relating to brain cells and their functioning. Obviously the treatment in allopathy, the most popular path today, offers instant and quick relief. But in cases of mental retardation, it has largely been confined to containing the patients, convulsions.

This is only to prevent any further or progressive damage to the brain. The ritual goes on for several years without offering a lasting cure or remedy.

As compared to allopathy, Dr Oswal’s treatment consists of administering unique combination of certain bio-chemicals and some homoeopathic drugs. And simultaneously he keeps on documenting, video taping as well as photographing everything.

Even developments and improvements do not go unnoticed.

Dr. Oswal has treated and documented nearly 35 to 40 cases of mental retardation with or without epilepsy of different causes such as hypoxic brain damage, neurocutaneous syndrome, mongolism etc.

Parents of mentally-retarded children should essentially understand and realise that mental retardation is not a disease. It is a sub-normal state of intelligence, Dr Oswal says.

According to him, the causes of mental retardation could be attributed to several factors. Which could broadly be classified into three different categories: prenatal, post natal and and at the time of birth, besides hereditary causes or as a result of consanginious marriage.

Children suffering from cerebral palsy could also be victim to mental retardation, he opines.

In the prenatal category, malnutrition in expectant mothers or infectious diseases like measles, syphillis, contracted by such mothers.