The unflinching devotion of Dr Gunwant Oswal, a general practitioner from the city in the study of medicinal properties of a variety of biochemics (tissue-salts), Shrubs and herbs and their application in the treatment of mentally retarded patients, some of whom were literally in the vegetable form has produced startling results as regards their motor, mental and sensory functions.

These results have not only rendered a great deal of solace to the parents of the children that he had successfully treated, but have also shown a ray of hope in th lives of several other parents of such children who have been hitherto traveling through a pitch dark tunnel which was bereft of any stop overs to respite of stimuli. Their only and sole companion, until now, was none other than agony and perhaps for a change, anguish.

Though hard to believe, it is a matter of fact that even in this era in which various sciences and technologies in various disciplines and branches had blossomed producing mind bogging discoveries and breakthroughs, unfortunately, medical science has nothing to its credit which it can share with the parents of the mentally retarded ones so as to revive their hopes or offer them any relaxation.

The medical science, both medicinal as well as surgical, vouch a host of senior and renowned practitioners, has still been groping in the for the knowledge in respect of brain cells and their functioning. What is known to the medical science about that, as of now, can partly be described as ‘tip of the iceberg’ they assert unanimously.

Obviously, the treatment in Allopathy, the most popular path today, as it offers instant or quick relief, in the cases of mentally retarded ones has largely been confined to contain their convulsions so as to prevent any further or progressive damage to the brain. The ritual thus goes on and on for several years without offering cure of remedy.

It is on this backdrop that a child of six years of age, which was literally in the ‘vegetable form’ was brought, all the way from Akola, to DR Oswal for his treatment. This was partly due to the word of mouth publicity from among the friends and relatives of the patients that he has earned and partly due to the coverage in the print media to his earlier successful endeavour in treating patients who were suffering from ‘Purpura’ and ‘Herpes’ that the attention of many hapless patients and their relatives was drawn towards his sort of ‘offbeat’ work

Needless to mention that the case in question was earlier handled by a number of pediatricians and neurologists as well as by ophthalmologists of repute from some well equipped private as well as trust/public hospitals in Maharashtra, inclusive of those from Bombay too.

A heap of papers accompanying the patient included the case history of the patient electroence phalography, (EEGs), CTs, MRIs, IQ tests and various routine blood tests and diagnoses. The prescriptions were unfailingly very identical, indicating that a conventional line of medical treatment in order to control convulsions was the only recourse every one of them, whoever attended the case, had chosen. None of them, of course, ruled out natural remission.

The diagnosis in the case was ‘Hypoxic Brain Damage’ due to status epilepticus with Bilateral Optic. Atrophy and with Lipidosis. In simple terms, damage was caused to the brain and to its overall functioning because of the inability of the newly born to breathe oxygen at the time of its birth/convulsions.

Dr. Gunwant Oswal commenced his treatment by administering a unique combination of certain biochemcials and of some homeopathic drugs, which he does not want to disclose at this stage of time, and simultaneously kept on documenting, video taping as well as photographing all, even minor developments and improvements that started taking place at different stages during the course of his treatment.

What was witnessed at the end of the eight month period of the treatment was that the child which was once absolutely motionless was now able to see, sit and walk. As against nearly 10 to 15 convulsions per day, the patient was now getting only slight jerks and that too with most infrequent intervals. "It was indeed a stunning event," recalls DR Oswal. The parents of the child were overwhelmed with excitement and were short of words to express their gratitude towards DR Oswal.

DR Oswal chose to refer the case with all relevant documents, video tapes, treatment and result details to some of the renowned seniors in the medical field from Pune, requesting them to clinically examine the case and favour him with their readings and comments. He also arranged the presentation of the said case before a small but prominent circle of medicos from Pune comprising paediatricians, neurologists an ophthalmologists.

One of the leading neurologist from Pune writes. "He (Patient) is essentially seizure free now, except for occasional myoclonic jerks. He is mobile on his own with a certain degree of ataxia and imbalance of gait. He follows light and his pupils react well to light. Fundus would not be visualised without sedation. He answers to his name being called and says Aai and Daddy. There is significant improvement in his mental status and seizure control."

Since then, DR Oswal has treated and well documented nearly 35 to 40 cases of mental retardation with or without epilepsy of different causes viz. Hypoxic brain damage, Neurocutaneous syndrome, Mongolism etc and has recorded progressive changes and remarkable improvements in all his patients undergoing treatment.

What DR Oswal vehemently wants the parents of the mentally retarded children to essentially understand and realise is that mental retardation is not at all a disease. It is a subnormal state of intelligence.

According to him the causation of mental retardation can be attributed to several factors, which again can broadly be classified into three different categories: prenatal, postnatal and at the time of birth, besides of course being hereditary and as a result of consanguineous marriage. The children suffering from cerebral palsy can also fall victim to MR.

In the parental category, malnutrition is in expectant mothers or infectious diseases like measles, syphilis contracted by such mothers or teretogenic effects of drugs, alcoholism, why even pregnancy above the age of 35 years of the mother and X-rays, in first trimester contribute to the case of MR.

In the ‘at the time of birth’ category, delayed or prolonged labour, wrong use of forceps, excessive bleeding and also inability of the child to breathe immediately after its birth are some of the factors that cause MR.

Whereas in the ‘postnatal’ category the factors liable for MR can be shortlisted as: poor nutrition in the formative years of the child, illness like jaundice, fits, untreated epilepsy, head injury, encephalitis, lead poisoning, etc.

However, whatever may be the category of factors responsible for mental retardation the parents of such children ought not to loose the sight of the fact that an early detection of mental retardation can undoubtedly facilitate, a timely treatment as well as appropriate training to the child and most importantly, it may also help counter further deterioration of its brain, cautions DR Oswal.

Of-late, only some of the private clinics and hospitals and a few consultants from Pune have started referring their MR patients to DR Oswal but after a thorough scrutiny of his endeavour and results, a well known Post Graduate Institute of Medicines and Surgery from Pune has accorded him the facilities to conduct ‘double blind’ study of its sizeable number of MR patients.

In order to establish the efficacy of his therapy beyond doubts, DR Oswal, is keen to pursue to study and conduct further trails in greater depth and detail. He has plans to set up a Research-cum treatment centre, where he can work on incurable or degenerate causes or on chronic diseases like Spinal Muscle Atrophy, Motor Neuron diseases, Liver diseases, Neuropathys, etc.

What’s more, he needs an access to a large forum/platform to read papers, table his results and interact with seniors in the arena to receive their reaction, suggestions on his work in the treatment on a variety of diseases, from time to time.

From the lukewarm response from some quarters, he has a hunch that his graduation in integrated studies (Ayurveda + Allopathy) is perhaps the cause keeping him at bay from the mainstream medical audience and circle.