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| Sunday, 16 March 2003 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Ayurvedic miracles by LAKMAL WELABADA Mrs. Jill Smith, a British national was staying in a small tourist hotel at Kochchikade, Eththukala when she heard about an Ayurvedic doctor practising close to the place she was staying.
She wheeled into the place with the idea of having a head massage and never thought she could get her curved polio legs straightened and her big belly (which was turned to a side due to the fat muscles of her inactive body) back to normal. The end point of the nose and the navel of the tummy were also on the same level after treatment. It was a miracle which Mrs. Smith experienced in our Ayurvedic treatments during her three week stay in Sri Lanka. Before returning to UK, with tears of gratitude she kissed the divine hands of the lady doctor Dr. (Ms) Shanthi Kusum Nanayakkara who gave her the hope of getting back on her own feet. "Mrs. Smith had got Polio when she was five years," said Dr. (Ms) Nanayakkara. "She faced the second tragical disaster in her life at the age of fifteen when she fell off from upstairs and broke two bones in the spinal cord and got two fractures in the knees. She now lives with artificial bones," said the doctor.
Mrs. Smith managed to walk on crutches until she fell off the stairs. She was confined to a wheelchair for life. But her courage and will remained. She is professionally a school teacher. And disliked the word 'unable'. "The faith this courageous lady had in me and our Ayurvedic treatment quickened her cure," said Dr. Nanayakkara stressing that Mrs. Smith would be able to stand up and walk back on crutches if she could reduce her weight. What was the secret of the miraculous recovery of Mrs. Smith? "Nothing else; it was the Aswaganda oil massage I did on her," Dr. (Ms) Nanayakkara said. "The secret is in two remedial substances; the traditional Lankan Ayurvedic method which I inherited from my father, a 'Wedamahaththaya' (indigenous doctor), and the Acupuncture Chinese method of treatment," she said.
"My father, Dr. S. M. Nanayakkara practised at Dinapathy Medical Hall at Technical Junction, Colombo 10," she recalled. Being the fifth of ten children, she said she got the opportunity to live with Ayurveda since she was a small girl. Dr. (Ms) Nanayakkara was born to the Nanayakkara 'Weda' caste in Matara famous for using powerful curing methods for so many incurable illnesses, which was not possible through western medical treatments. "Although we assume Acupuncture is the only method of using pressure points for healing, our Ayurvedic method also uses a similar technique with oil massaging," she said. "Since Mrs.Smith did not like to get pins inserted into the body, I could only perform oil massage on her. There, I used the unrevealed techniques which have been the secrets in our 'Weda' family books. And it worked," she said with a smile. Dr. (Ms) Nanayakkara carries three techniques in her treatments; Massaging, Acupuncture and 'Panchakarma'.
Since she is a general Ayurvedic physician she treats all kinds of ailments. She says that when she sees a paralysed patient walking towards her, at the very first glance she could tell instinctively the number of days it would take for him to get back to his normal active life, or how long she would take to cure him completely. Today, this Ayurvedic physician carries her service efficiently at two places. Her residence at Meewella Road, Pethiyagoda, Kelaniya opens for patients mostly in the evenings as she holds a clinic at Coconut Grove Beach Hotel at Kochchikade, Eththukala in the mornings. Most of the foreign clients come to her clinic for oil massaging and herbal steam baths. Locals come to get treatment mainly for neurology ailments like paralysis. The story of the 23 year old Eranga is also one of the most sensitive cases which this native doctor has handled among the hundreds of her patients. Eranga got a stroke at her birth. As a repercussion she had to suffer with a continuous shiver in her hands and stuttering in speech. And it worsened when she got excited or panicked over something. "Eranga was a patient of Prof. Anton Jayasooriya, the best Acupuncture specialist in Sri Lanka. Since I was a student of the Professor, Eranga was sent to me for treatment. It was a challenge. I accepted it. While treating Eranga with Acupuncture needles, I continued to do oil massaging and prescribed her oral medicines like 'Kasaya', 'Kalka' and 'Arishta'," she said.It took four months. The faith Eranga kept in Dr. (Ms) Nanayakkara and the native medicines really worked. "The young woman is completely cured now. I am so happy. Soon she will be a pretty bride," said the Ayurvedic doctor. |
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