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Sanjiv Shankaran

The Bio-Oxy clinic in Chennai uses chelation and ozone therapies to treat a variety of ailments.

In August 2001, P. AswathRaman, a former Larsen & Toubro employee, with a history of heart problems, found himself in trouble. A visit to a Chennai-based hospital indicated that one of his arteries had three nearly complete blocks, and a by-pass surgery appeared to be the only solution. But, AswathRaman was reluctant to undergo surgery, and began scouting for an alternative.

A friend's experience — he had undergone chelation therapy in Bangalore — provided him an alternative. Chelation therapy has been used for over a few decades to treat heart disease. Ethylenediamine tetra-acetic acid (EDTA) is a synthetic amino acid that has long been used to treat lead poisoning. However, when administered in the right dosage under medical supervision, EDTA chelation clears blocks in the cardiovascular system by literally dissolving them away. The chemical bonding process of EDTA in the body is known as chelation. The EDTA can be administered in an oral form or in an intra-venous (IV) form.

AswathRaman located the Bio-Oxy Clinic in Chennai that offered the same treatment and commenced therapy in February 2002. Within a month, he recovered enough to begin driving again. "I was feeling quite happy," is how AswathRaman describes his state at the end of treatment.

AswathRaman underwent chelation along with another therapy that relies on ozone as a curative agent. One of the therapy's advantages, says AswathRaman, is that one is required to spend only a couple of hours for each sitting, and then carry on with his daily routine.

If chelation therapy is so effective, why is it not frequently used? The Internet is littered with Web sites that provide information on chelation therapy. Votaries of the theory claim the answer lies in the economics of treating heart disease.

AswathRaman's experience may provide a better insight. He says that his treatment cost Rs 60,000. As against that, his enquiries with Chennai-based hospitals revealed that he would have had to pay anything between Rs 1.5 lakh and over Rs 3 lakh to undergo a by-pass surgery. According to Prem Philip George, Managing Director at Bio-Oxy, depending on the complexity of the problem, the cost of chelation therapy could range between Rs 45,000 and Rs 75,000.

One point of contention that physicians have had about chelation therapy is renal failure that can be a consequence of improper dosage of EDTA. Chelation therapy at Bio-Oxy, George says, is carried out under the supervision of qualified medical practitioners (Bio-Oxy Clinic carries out treatment under the supervision of Dr Rathna Alwa. In addition to the Chennai-based centre, Dr Alwa carries out chelation therapy at Bangalore too).

EDTA is a prescription drug, and the dosage has to be carefully administered. Referring to Bio-Oxy's treatment process, George says, "We are using 1.5 gm of EDTA per session, while the standard protocol is 3 gm".

Combining chelation therapy and ozone treatments, Bio-Oxy has treated 27 patients with heart blocks so far, over the last two years. And it treats more than heart disease. The clinic uses medical ozone as a critical antidote for a variety of ailments. The primary function of ozone is to detoxify the body. Ozone employed for medical purposes is obtained by means of an electrical discharge through pure oxygen, and is different from atmospheric ozone in that it is pure and concentrated.

Properly administered, ozone is an effective rejuvenator. It is a popular treatment in Cuba, and to an extent in Germany. Bio-Oxy uses ozone therapy on patients with a variety of ailments.

Jagdishraj Mohnot, for instance, reluctantly tried ozone therapy at Bio-oxy after battling hypertension and diabetes for a while. He says that Autohemotherapy (ozonating the blood), and washing the colon with ozone have had a positive impact. And, ozone treatment could be used as a rejuvenator by healthy people too, says George.

Bio-Oxy's treatment process echoes Ayurveda to an extent. The treatment starts with an evaluation of the patient's habits, and is followed by a series of tests to gauge the general state of health and the level of toxins in the body. Ozone treatment is accompanied by a recommendation to change one's lifestyle in terms of diet, among other things.

As in the case of chelation therapy, Web sites that extol the virtues of ozone are many. Votaries of these therapies allege that huge investments made by the pharmaceutical industry in their business account for the limited use of alternative therapies. Regardless of where the truth may lie, the availability of options is not a bad state of affairs.

(More information on the therapies can be obtained at www.thebioxyclinic.com)

Picture by Bijoy Ghosh

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