Nelliakkattu Mana, the birthplace of Sreedhareeyam has a rich tradition of Ayurvedic excellence for over 400 years. The family is a repository of vast traditional knowledge in Ayurveda handed down through centuries. The physicians of the Mana were renowned for treating poisonous infections and snake bites. Later they began to explore the depths of Shalakya Tantra, one of the eight branches of Ayurveda that deals with diagnosis and treatment of diseases affecting the organs of the human body located above the neck. The later generations of physicians have made it imperative to complete the highest level of formal education also, apart from the traditional knowledge, so that the goodness of modern technology is also assimilated into the age-old science.
Eye treatment based on Ayurveda was not so popular the world over. However, with the concept that “Sarvendreeyanam Nayanam Pradhanam” (of all, eye is the most vital), we started exploring all possibilities for effectively utilizing the vast traditional knowledge in Ayurveda that our family “Nelliakkattu Mana” handed down through centuries, especially in Shalakya Tantra. The Ayurvedic texts of Sushrut Samhita, Charak Samhita and Ashtang Hruday have given a detailed description of shalakya tantra. It offers a detailed study of etiology, diagnosis, prevention and treatment of diseases that affect organs above the neck. According to the texts, there are about 76 diseases pertaining to the eyes, whereas the ears are prone to 25 different kinds of ailments. The nose can be affected by as many as 18 diseases, while the lips are easily susceptible to 11 types of diseases. Shalakya tantra finds the remedy for all such diseases. Shalakya tantra is not only concerned with the immediate treatment of the ailments but also with the follow-up treatment, in order to ensure that the disease is uprooted and eliminated. Therefore, it proves to be one of the most effective methods of treating the ailments related to the upper portion of the body, above the neck.
Shreedhareeyam Ayurvedic Eye Hospital and Research Centre is born from the famous Nelliakattu Mana, a traditional household of Vaidyas (physicians). The family is a repository of vast traditional knowledge in Ayurveda handed down through centuries, especially in Shalakya Thantra, one of the eight branches of Ayurveda that deals with diagnosis and treatment of disease affecting those organs of human body located above the neck. The association of Nelliakattu Mana with Netra Chikitsa (Ophthalmology) goes back to a few centuries.
For generations, the Nelliakkattu family ran an informal clinic from its ancestral home in Koothattukulam, just 45 minutes away from the port of Cochin. In 1999, the family opened a state-of-the-art hospital on the premises to be able to take the goodness of Ayurveda to more deserving people. Operated under the valuable expertise of Dr N.P.P Namboothiri and benefitting from the traditional knowledge of Sri. N.P.Narayanan Namboothiri, the senior-most member of the family, the hospital treats and cures many eye problems which are not normally curable by other medical sciences. Today the hospital has well recognised the world over and it has brought new respect to the science of Ayurvedic Ophthalmology.
Many patients who came to the centre for treatment were ones who had tried out other systems of medicine. Ayurvedic ophthalmology was their last hope. Patients who benefited were the best ambassadors of our system of medicine. But to make it more acceptable to people, several changes were introduced in the medicine manufacturing division. A modern laboratory and a medicine-manufacturing unit were set up at the centre.
In Sreedhareeyam, we practice medicine in a unique place where highly skilled professionals and leaders in their respective fields create an environment of calm competence under the most demanding of situations and provide medical care that works, that is safe, and that leaves no one behind.
Combining this profound knowledge of diseases and extensive clinical experience with the most modern technological advancements propelled sreedhareeyam to achieve incomparable results in the field of ophthalmology. Walk into Sreedhareeyam, and you find the latest of diagnostic equipment in its portals. It’s clinical and Optometry laboratories are equipped with most modern diagnostic instruments. Patients are examined by doctors using this equipment, and the diseases are identified. The diseases are reported in the terms used by modern medicine thus making it easier to document and follow up.
In the next stage, the identified disease is transformed into its Ayurvedic equivalent, by the senior doctors. The Ayurvedic treatment then starts. The treatment goes through several phases from preparing the body, removing toxins, herbal therapy and final crackdown of treatments to the affected regions.
