IMA gets a culture shock

God Man in IMA, the Modern Doctors’ Lair

New Delhi, January5: It is a culture shock of sorts for IMA (Indian Medical Association), modern doctors’ apex body.

In the days when god men are fighting a losing battle, IMA has recently got one. He is Dr.K.K. Aggarwal, the new incumbent Secretary General who has all the trappings of a god man. You can suitably paint him as one clad in saffron robes, sporting a stethoscope around his neck.

But Dr. Aggarwal is a god man with a difference, blending science and religious scriptures as a seamless whole. In his scheme of holistic healing, spirituality constitutes a critical part of treatment. One who took the reigns of IMA on January3 via ‘Rudrabhishek’ ritual in the midst of the chant of Vedic mantras; he looks at the profession of doctors itself as Dharma.

When he is at the lectern, he sounds more as a spiritual preacher than a medical doctor. He carries the conviction that all religions imbibe qualities of a true healer. He would reinvent Ramayana, Hanuman Chalisa, rituals, religious rites or other religious scriptures for that matter, blow by blow as veritable medicinal salts as if they were pharmacopeia for medicines.

Mark his analyses of Ramayana. For Dr. Aggarwal, the dramatis personae and their positions in Ramayana are mere symbols. In Dr. Aggarwal’s Ramayana Seeta is the body, Lakshman the mind and Ram is the soul. According to him, their separation is what gives rise to disease. They being together are the ideal state of health. In holistic wellness, the oneness of body, mind and soul is being talked about. His health Ramayan is very extensive.

It is interesting to hear from him how Pranayam (a yogic process) is Hanuman himself. You agree with him or not, but his exotic analyses of religious scriptures in terms of health and medicine are spell binding.

He is a kind of god man whose reasoning has the power to give god men baiter Amir Khan a run for his money. Dr. Aggarwal is a strong votary of that importance of auspicious time, role of zodiac and stars (grah and Nkshatra) during treatment of a disease. He believes that surgeries and treatments done during auspicious time leads to better outcome and speedy recovery. He also looks at Aurveda, Yoga and other alternative forms of medicines as effective and necessary components in healthcare. He is naturally an avid ally of NaMo, who is also a votary of yoga and Aurveda.  Dr. Aggarwal has taken up his Swachh Bharat (Clean India) campaign as a necessary aspect of wellness.

Dr. Aggarwal emerges as an epitome of new trend in healthcare where even Dr. Naresh Trehan ( Medanta’s chairman) can be seen fiddling with beads strung on a thread (Manka Mala).  Does not Medanta itself sound like blending of Medical and Vedanta? And Dr. Trehan associating so closely with Dr. K.K. Aggarwal in all his programs is proof enough that Dr.K.K, the god man will rock in his new role as IMA’s Secretary General. If IMA be the sanctum sanctorum of medicine, it has got a Purohit in the person of Dr. K.K. Aggarwal, also the president of Heartcare Foundation of India.