JOURNEY OF 28 GLORIOUS YEARS OF
BHARATIYA SANSKRITI DARSHAN TRUST’S
INTEGRATED CANCER TREATMENT AND RESEARCH CENTER, WAGHOLI, PUN
A young lad from a remote village in Solapur leaves for Pune after completing his matriculation in the pre-independence era. His name is Shri. Prabhakar Keshav Sardeshmukh. Born in a family of traditional and Royal Vaidyas who breathed Ayurveda and were blessed with spiritual and divine ancestors, the young boy had thorough knowledge of the Vedas and ancient Indian Shastras from a very tender age. He had learnt Ayurveda and other subjects from his father in a Gurukul Parampara from early childhood. Inspite of all this, he completed his matriculation as his father had wished for him. One more great desire his renowned and respected father had was, to establish a centre where Ayurveda would treat all the chronic disorders, so also disorders which are considered very challenging and at times an impossible task.
The lad later left for Pune with blessings from his parents and ambitions and visions in his mind. There he met his master, Sadguru. Shri.Marutinath Mali Maharaj in Somwar Peth area. By the advice and blessings of him, he established the Bharatiya Sanskriti Darshan Trust (B.S.D.T) at Wagholi, Pune in 1954 with an aim of propagation and rejuvenation of the ancient, rich Indian culture and science. He was respected and acclaimed for his vast knowledge in Ayurveda, Spirituality and Ancient Indian Vedas, Sciences and Arts in India as well as abroad. He dedicated all his life for preaching and propagation of Ayurveda and ancient Indian Vedas, Arts and Sciences. He attained Mahasamadhi on 29th of August 1996. His “Samadhi” is next to his “Gurusthana” in the B.S.D.T campus at Wagholi.
As was the desire of his father and by the blessings of his Sadguru, he laid the concept and foundation stone of the “Cancer Research Project” in 1986 with a vision and immense desire to reduce the sufferings of Cancer patients with the help of Ayurveda.
At that time the word, ‘Cancer’ was not that prevalent and known in detail to the medical fraternity except some established health centres in Mumbai and Pune. Treating cancer and doing research by giving Ayurvedic treatment was a thing beyond imagination but it was what Revered. Sardeshmukh Maharaj thought of. A true visionary and a humanitarian.
Veteran Gandhian Late. Shri. Tryambak alias Balasaheb Bharade, Ex-Speaker, Legislative Assembly who was also a trustee of B.S.D.T, had referred a cancer affected lady patient who had no hopes. Revered. Sardeshmukh Maharaj gave her Ayurvedic treatment and gradually she improved living some years of a good quality of life ahead. This made Shri. Balasaheb Bharade insist on the initiation of Cancer Research Project.
There was another lady patient, who was the grandmother to one of the most reputed Journalists in today’s times. She had a mole beneath her right eye which kept on growing and later on was diagnosed to be malignant (cancerous). It developed into a swelling which affected from the eye to the brain. She had watery discharge from eyes which was extremely foul smelling, so much that her family in the house could have the odor two rooms across. The unstoppable pain in head made her bang her head in agony against the wall crying for relief. She was told no hopes by the modern medicine physicians. She met Dr. Sadanand Sardeshmukh through a reference and started the Ayurvedic treatment. Everyone was a bit skeptical about how she would recover from such a disease at that stage, but it was miraculous that she improved and her pain disappeared shortly. She survived a long 5 years ahead and succumbed to a paralytic attack and not Cancer. This Midas touch was experienced by many from then onwards.
There are several thousands of such cases registered till date who have benefited from the treatment. The registered cases count a modest figure of above 12,000 cases.
The seed of the Cancer Research Project which was planted by Revered Sardeshmukh Maharaj along with his eldest son, Prof. Dr. Sadanand Sardeshmukh was nurtured with able hands like Dr. Arvind Kulkarni, Ex-HOD, Radiation Department of Bombay Hospital, Mumbai who from the early years participated and supported the project. Revered Sardeshmukh Maharaj was a man with liberal views and vision beyond years. He had instructed to make use of all the advanced diagnostic methods and advances in technology which would be helpful in the benefit of the patient and their assessment. The Cancer Research Project had its Pune centre at Wagholi and Mumbai centre at Dadar in 1994.
The first “Cancer Awareness and Consultation Camp” in Pune was held on 25th March 1994 followed by a sequel in Mumbai on 27th August 1994. The camps were mostly attended by patients who were at advanced stages of cancer with very less help to be offered. It did not dampen the enthusiasm and spirit of work for the team and various patients were showing average to significant improvements. The project being a research project has all the data properly recorded with the related reports and documents of the patients. People’s view towards Ayurvedic treatment for cancer started gradually becoming positive.
The project had its one more centre in Solapur with the co-ordination of renowned Onco-Surgeon, Dr. Shirish Kumthekar in 1995. The sincerity of the teams and positive response from the people made the project progress ahead with centres gradually established in Kolhapur (10th September 2010), Gurgaon- New Delhi (11th February 2011), Nashik (15th September 2013) and Aurangabad (4th March 2017).
The once planted seedling has now grown in a huge Banyan tree and its canopy. This firm rooted project by Revered. Sardeshmukh Maharaj and Dr. Sadanand Sardeshmukh, is supported and coordinated by Dr. Arvind Kulkarni and Dr. Shirish Kumthekar. With the advancement in time, new experts, advisors, doctors and people have added up to put their share of service in this great humanitarian mission.
The trust organized the Ist International Conference on “Ayurved for Cancer” in the year 1997. This was to bring together all the people from Ayurveda as well as various disciplines of medicine from India and abroad to share their works and achievements on one dais keeping cancer patients as the centre. It was a unique event which had an encouraging response. The Institute since then has been organizing an International Conference on ‘Ayurved For Cancer’ every 5 years. Till date there have been 5 such International Conferences arranged, each being a milestone of success. Research papers from these conferences are compiled and published as a book titled “Ashwasan”.
Dr. Sadanand P Sardeshmukh presented a research paper on Cancer at the Ist International Conference on Ayurveda in Japan in April 2002. In the same year in November 2002, the IInd International Conference on “Ayurved for Cancer” was held in Pune. In this conference, an exhibition on ‘Cancer and Ayurved’ was arranged to create awareness regarding the disease. An informative book, “Cancer – Ayurved” has also been published by the trust in Marathi in which various aspects of Cancer are explained on the basis of Ayurvedic philosophy.
The trust is recognized as a Scientific Industrial Research Organization (SIRO) by Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India since August 2002.
The Research Project successfully completed 10 years of its continuous service in 2004 and it was celebrated with a “A Decade of Service in Cancer Treatment and Research” events in Pune, Mumbai and Solapur. In 2007, the IIIrd International Conference on “Ayurved for Cancer” was held in Mahableshwar, in which various luminaries working in the field of Cancer participated and shared their views.
In 2009, the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), Govt. of India gave a grant for the purchase of “Cobalt Radiotherapy machine” after reviewing the extensive work done by the Research Centre in the field of Cancer. This was a great relief for the cancer patients who could not afford hefty costs for Radiation therapy at the renowned hospitals.
The initial years of the project were in the building built by Revered. Sardeshmukh Maharaj. In the year 2009, it was a matter of pride when the Department of AYUSH, Govt. of India recognized the Research Project as a “Centre of Excellence” in Integrated Cancer Treatment and funded for the construction of the building and infrastructure. The grace of God and blessings of Revered. Sardeshmukh Maharaj followed to flow.
Chemotherapy ward started in the Wagholi, Pune centre in September 2009.
Revered. Sardeshmukh Maharaj had insisted to try all the possible efforts to save the human life. Keeping this in mind and understanding that every science has got limitations, the “Integrated cancer Treatment and Research centre (ICTRC)” was established in the same campus of BSDT in 2010.
On the basis of research work in the field of Cancer, ICTRC was given an opportunity by Rashtriya Ayurveda Vidyapeeth (RAV), National Academy of Ayurved, an Autonomous Organization under Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Dept. of AYUSH, Govt. of India, New Delhi to conduct two Re-orientation Training Programs (ROTPs) and one CME for teachers on ‘Significance of Shalyatantra in Cancer’ in the year 2010 -2011.
The year 2011 was truly “annus mirabilis”. Padmavibhushan Shri. Ratanji Tata visited the research centre in 2011 at Mumbai and Pune to have a look at the activities. Being from a family of legends and known for their generosity, Shri. Ratanji Tata appreciated the efforts of clinical work and research done in the project. Jamshetji Tata Trust has sanctioned Grant-In-aid for a state of art and well equipped Panchakarma Hospital at BSDT Campus in Wagholi. The inauguration of ICTRC was done in 2011 by the then President of India, Her Excellency, Smt. Pratibhatai Patil in the honorable presence of the Governor of Maharashtra state, Hon. Shri. K. Shankarnarayanan and other dignitaries. It was an event which truly added to the glory of the institute. This was just the beginning for this Research Centre with a mission to serve the mankind.
The Radiotherapy department of ICTRC was inaugurated and started rendering its services to cancer patients since February 2011.
International Conferences are a reservoir for sharing knowledge and knowing new researches being done around the globe. In October 2012, Dr. Arvind Kulkarni and Dr.Vineeta Deshmukh from ICTRC participated in the 9th International Conference of the Society for Integrative Oncology at Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA. About 400 delegates were present there and we were glad to see the increasing optimism and acceptance for the Holistic and Alternative medicine and therapies by today’s experts from modern medicine. We were the only team from India to participate and present our scientific data of more than 5000 cancer patients. It was a warm applaud that we received and this surely is a paradigm shift in the contribution of Ayurvedic therapies supported by lifestyle and dietary modification towards treating Cancer.
In November 2012, the Research Centre organized the IVth International Conference on “Ayurved for Cancer” in Pune. The conference had a special focus on important aspects of Cancer viz. Pathogenesis, Diagnosis, Therapeutics and discussion of various Cancer cases treated at our centre and studied at specific time points. The conference saw a huge participation of doctors and experts from various disciplines of medicine working in the field of Cancer Treatment and Research. On this occasion, Padmavibhushan Shri. Anil Kakodkar, the renowned nuclear scientist from India visited the Research Centre in Wagholi and appreciated the sincere efforts made by the Centre.
On 1st May 2013 and 21st June 2013, a Cancer Genetic camp was conducted at ICTRC – Wagholi, Pune centre and Mumbai centre respectively. The aim of this camp was to conduct a genetic study of cancer patients and their relatives. These camps were conducted in collaboration with Dr. Rajeev Sarin, Ex-Director, ACTREC and In-charge, Cancer Genetic Center and his associates. Also amongst the other reputed personalities who were present for the camp were Dr. Avinash Bhisey (Ex-Chairman of Cancer Research Institute, Tata Memorial Hospital; specialized in Cell biology, Cancer Cytogenetics and Animal Cell Culture ), Dr. Mrs. Rajani Bhisey (Ex-Head of Department of Carcinogenesis; specialized in environmental carcinogenesis, molecular epidemiology of Cancer), Dr. Mrs. Sudha Gangal (Ex – HOD and Professor of Immunology, specialized in Tumor Immunology, Cell biology and genetic disease) and Dr. Nishigandha Naik (Director, Haffkine Institute).
In 2014, the 3rd International Conference and Exhibition on “Clinical and Cellular Immunology” held at Baltimore, USA saw eminent researchers from our Centre present their detailed study which got appreciated and published later in the “Journal of Clinical and Cellular Immunology”.
On 6th – 7th February 2014, the 5th International Conference on Translational Cancer Research was organized by Delhi State Cancer Institute in collaboration with the MD Anderson Cancer Centre, Houston, Texas, USA at New Delhi, INDIA. Research papers were presented by our team of Senior Researchers and experts in the conference.
Every year, several Cancer awareness, consultation and detection camps are organized in various places in different states of India. Till date the Research Centre has conducted more than 350 free Cancer consultation camps, exhibitions and social awareness camps for Cancer. Amongst this “Breast Cancer and Cervical Cancer Awareness and Detection Camp” was organized by Jain social group, Pune Central in collaboration with Integrated Cancer Treatment and Research Centre at Mahavir Pratishthan, Salisbury Park on 23rd March 2014, where 414 female individuals underwent Breast examination and 382 females got their PAP smear test done.
In 2014, the Ministry of AYUSH, Govt. of India enrolled the Research Centre in their list of Centres for Rashtriya Ayurved Vidyapeeth and recognized Prof. Dr. Sadanand P. Sardeshmukh as one of it’s ‘Institutional Guru’.
In November 2014 and December 2016, our team of Senior Researchers attended the workshop on “Genetic Counselling and testing in Clinical practice” organized by the ICMR centre for Advanced Research in Cancer genetics at ACTREC, Tata Caner Center, Kharghar.
In the year 2014, to spread awareness about Cancer in the society, ICTRC was publishing weekly article – series in ‘Health It’ supplement of renowned Marathi Daily Newspaper- Loksatta which was later compiled to form a book “Cancer Sathi – Lokopyogi Ayurved”.
ICTRC celebrated “Two Successful Decades of Service” in the field of Cancer in the year 2014. A special program to celebrate this was organized in Mumbai.
We take pride that one of our research papers titled, “Effectiveness of combination of Ayurvedic drugs in alleviating drug toxicity and improving quality of life of cancer patients treated with chemotherapy” got published in the Journal of Support Cancer Care (2014) of ‘Springer’, a premiere international journal.
In 2015, Research Centre also participated through free consultation and treatment camp in the “Seminar on Medicinal plants and Health Expo” organized by Dept. of AYUSH, Govt. of India at Panaji, Goa.
On 21st June 2015, ‘The International Yoga Day’ was celebrated by the Research Centre at Wagholi and at all centers of ICTRC.
In September 2015, the Research Centre got affiliated with the Indian Cancer Society.
Various seminars and workshops on Integrative oncology were organized in 2015 by the Research Centre. Consultation and awareness camps on Cancer are held at different places in India including Kashmir, Siliguri and other areas where facilities in cancer treatment are scarce.
Dr. Shweta Gujar from ICTRC Wagholi, Pune attended the 17th International Ayurveda Symposium at Bristein, Germany in September 2015 and delivered a lecture on “Ayurveda and Complementary therapy- Methods of holistic cancer therapy”.
Identification, authentication and standardization of drugs are the key point that helps us to assess the quality and purity of any drug. Keeping this in mind, a well-equipped “Drug Standardization Laboratory” has been developed at ICTRC, Wagholi in the year 2016. There is constantly an addition of latest machineries as per International standards to carry out these tests. In the same year, “Molecular Biology Lab” was developed at ICTRC, Pune under the able guidance of Dr. Sudha Gangal and Dr. Vidya Gupta and it was a big impetus to the work at the Research centre.
In October 2016, “Palliative Care Department” for Cancer also was set up under the guidance of Dr. Priyadarshini Kulkarni, in the service and for pain relief of Cancer patients in their terminal stage. Dr. Vineeta Deshmukh and Dr. Sukumar Sardeshmukh from ICTRC Wagholi, Pune attended the 2nd European World Ayurveda Congress held in Koblenz, Germany in October 2016 and delivered a lecture on “‘Integrated approach of cancer treatment at the Ayurveda Hospital and Research Centre, Wagholi, Pune, India’ and also participated in Panel Discussion on – ‘Cancer’.
The “Tissue biology Laboratory “at ICTRC was started under the able guidance of Dr. Sudha Gangal and Dr. Vidya Gupta in January 2017.
In 2017, the esteemed and generous TATA Trusts, Mumbai had a second serving of their support by funding for the development and up-gradation of the Panchakarma Hospital and research activities in BSDT, Wagholi, Pune. In the same year, our Ayurved Hospital and Research Centre was empanelled for Ayurvedic Panchakarma treatment with CGHS.
In the beginning of 2017, the Department of AYUSH, Govt. of India in association with the internationally most viewed channel “National Geographic” covered the work done at ICTRC, Wagholi. This was later showcased in their documentary telecasted several times in March and April 2018 informing about remarkable centres in India working in the field of Alternative Medicine and Health services.
Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Kochi, Kerala had organized an International Conference on Integrative Ayurveda and Modern Medicine titled ‘Amruta Samyogam 2017’ in August 2017 which was attended by team of ICTRC. Key note lectures, paper presentations as well as poster presentations were done there by the team.
In the year 2017, ICTRC organized camps on various cancer days like International Childhood Cancer Day on 15th February 2017, Triple Negative Breast Cancer Day on 3rd March 2017, Colorectal Cancer Awareness Day on 21st March and 14th April 2017, No Tobacco Day on 24th May 2017, Cancer Survivor Day on 4th June 2017, BRCA and Triple Negative Breast Cancer Day on 23rd June 2017. These diagnostic and treatment based camps were conducted in Pune, Mumbai, Nashik, Kolhapur, Aurangabad, Siliguri and Bangalore. As a concluding part of all these cancer camps the Vth International Conference on ‘Ayurved for Cancer’ was organized by ICTRC, Wagholi, Pune on 16th and 17th December 2017 at the Cancer Panchakarma Hospital of BSDT.
On the occasion of “National Cancer Survivors Day” ICTRC hosted an exclusive program for cancer patients on 3rd June 2018. Cancer survivors from our various centers were present for this event.
9 researchers and clinicians from ICTRC participated and presented 4 posters in 14th Indo-Australian Biotechnology Conference on “Emerging modalities to improve cancer outcome” held on 22-23 October 2018 at ACTREC, Kharghar, Navi Mumbai – 410210.
An awareness lecture on ‘Radiation material safety and security’ organized by Maharashtra intelligence Academy at M.I.A., SRPF, Wanori, Pune was delivered on 16th November 2018 by Dr Arvind Kulkarni, Director, Oncology, ICTRC.
A guest lecture was delivered by Dr Shweta Gujar in 8th World Ayurveda Congress, Ahmedabad, Gujrat on 14 – 16 December 2018 on ‘Role of Ayurvedic treatment in protection of normal tissue and palliation during and following chemotherapy’.
Dr Pradnya Tilekar, SRF, ICTRC delivered a Guest Lecture on 20th April 2019 at Kohinoor College of Paramedical Science, Pune
Dr Bhushan Patwardhan, Vice-Chairman, University Grants Commission, New Delhi visited ICTRC, Wagholi on 25th May 2019 and guided various activities of ICTRC. A book “Cancer Pratibandha Va Ayurved” unveiled by the hands of Dr Bhushan Patwardhan.
Dr Vineeta Deshmukh, Deputy Director, ICTRC, delivered a Guest lecture on ‘Cancer and Ayurved’ in ICCC, International Cancer Care Conference – 2019 at Ludhiana on 20th October 2019.
Integrated Cancer Treatment and Research Center (ICTRC) is empanelled under Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Jana Arogya Yojana (MJPJAY) and Pradhan Mantri Jana Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) on 23rd April 2020, under which needy cancer patients are treated with conventional cancer treatment free of charge.
Launching of 2 Ayurvedic formulations ‘Çhemo Recovery Kits’ (an adjunct treatment to chemotherapy for alleviating it’s side-effects), products of patents filed of Bharatiya Sanskriti Darshan Trust’s Integrated Cancer Treatment and Research Center (BSDT’s ICTRC), Wagholi, Pune through Atharva Nature Healthcare Pvt. Ltd. was done on Sunday, 27th September 2020 at the auspicious hands of Honourable Shri Bhagat Singh Koshyariji, Governor of Maharashtra.
Dr Vineeta Deshmukh, Deputy Director, ICTRC, delivered an online Guest Lecture in 2nd webinar between CCRAS, Ministry of AYUSH and OCCAM, NCI, USA on 30th November 2021.
Dr Shweta Gujar, Assistant Director, ICTRC delivered 2 Guest Lectures on Cancer and Ayurved on 7th December 2021 in CME on Integrative Oncology organized by Center for Integrative Oncology, Unit of All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA), New Delhi and funded by Rashtriya Ayurved Vidyapeeth, New Delhi.
CME on ‘Panchakarma in Cancer’, funded by Rashtriya Ayurved Vidyapeeth, New Delhi was organized from 17th – 22nd January 2022 by ICTRC and Ayurved Mahavidyalaya, Wagholi. 20 Lecturers, Associate Professors, and Professors in Department of Panchakarma from various Ayurvedic Colleges all over India attended the CME.
CME on ‘Oncology and General Medicine’ was organized on 26th February 2022 at ICTRC, Wagholi for General Practitioners and specialists.
On occasion of Women’s’ Day, Dr Shweta Gujar, Assistant Director, ICTRC delivered a lecture on ‘Panchakarma in Breast Cancer’ on 20th March 2022, organized by Ayurved Vyaspeeth, Sangli in Ayurved Vyakhyanmala 2022.
On the occasion of “National Cancer Survivors Day” ICTRC organised an event for our cancer survivors on 5th June 2022. Cancer survivors from our various centers were present for this event.
On occasion of 3rd National Conference on Cancer organised by NIA, Jaipur on 23rd – 24th Sept. 2022. Dr. Vineeta Deshmukh (Deputy Director), Dr. Shweta Gujar (Assistant Director), Dr. Nilambari Sardeshmukh (Senior Research Fellow) and Dr. Sushrut Sardeshmukh (Associate Professor, Kayachikitsa Department) delivered lectures on Integrated approach in diagnosis and management of breast cancer.
Dr. Vineeta Deshmukh (Deputy Director) had delivered online lecture on 24th Sept. 2022 Dhara Vision Ayurveda, hosted by University of Transdisciplinary Health Sciences and Technology, Bangalore.
As a part of celebration of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, ICTRC has organised a free medical health checkup camp and free cancer consultation camp in Kesnand Grampanchayat on 29th Sept. 2022
ICTRC has always been organizing guest lectures, workshops, ROTP, CME and seminars on various topics related to Cancer. Teams from ICTRC are also regularly attending the workshops and seminars hosted by other institutes.
ICTRC has received donations for upgradation from various sectors of the society like establishment of Endoscopy Department, Boyle’s Apparatus, OT Lamps, Mammography Machine, Autosamplers for ICP OES and HPLC from MNGL, Pune; upgradation of ICU from Syngenta Services Pvt. Ltd. and Rotary Club of Amanora and Sinhgad; upgradation of Chemotherapy Department from Rotary Club of Pune Pristine and Electrochemotherapy machine from Rotary Club of Pune Pride.
Various doctors and researchers working in ICTRC are constantly encouraged to pursue higher specializations in the field of Cancer and hence majority of the working doctors are Ph.D and M.Phil.
Dr Vineeta V. Deshmukh, Deputy Director, ICTRC has received D.Sc. from Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth, Pune on the topic “Breast Cancer – An Ayurvedic Perspective” under the able guidance of Dr S. P. Sardeshmukh, Director, ICTRC.
The Research Centre is a unique place where biopsy proven cancer patients are treated with Ayurvedic as well as conventional treatment modalities. Ayurvedic treatments, Radiation therapy, Chemotherapy, Onco-Surgery and Palliative care are available from the respective experts under one roof. There is a synergy between best of both the sciences with a “Patient Centric” approach. It is also observed that this helps in reducing the side effects of Chemotherapy and Radiation therapy and thus helps in improving the quality of life and life expectancy of the cancer patient. The Integrated approach in Cancer treatment is a need of time and surely in benefit of the cancer patients. Being a part of B.S.D.T, a charitable trust, patients can have the effective treatments at an affordable cost.
Revered. Sardeshmukh Maharaj has initiated this great mission in the service of mankind. It is to preach and propagate the ancient Indian sciences and arts and blend it with the present technological advances making it together much better and useful.
This mammoth work has his blessings and guidance and support from numerous hands that always make the work move ahead. The prayers and wishes from the numerous hearts add to the zeal and enthusiasm of this work. Thousands have benefited till now from the treatments at the Research Centre. It will be our constant endeavor to keep working with the same dedication and sincerity in future too. Our aim is to achieve success by the blessings of God and support from all in the battle against the dreaded demon called “CANCER”.