Raila Odinga, former Kenyan Prime Minister, was all praise for the medical services rendered by the Sreedhareeyam Ayurvedic Eyecare Hospital in Koothattukulam in Ernakulam, that has helped his daughter regain her eyesight.
Odinga, a prospective presidential candidate in Kenya, said the setting up of a facility of the Sreedhareeyam-type in Kenya’s capital Nairobi will be one of his priorities if elected as the next President.
Odinga became emotional when he recounted to doctors at Sreedhareeyam the ordeals his daughter Rosemary Odinga had to face as she underwent surgeries at hospitals in vAfrica and around the world, fith no results.
He met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi on Sunday on his way back home from Kerala, and requested Modi to help spread ayurvedic eye care that had helped restore his daughter’s eyesight, across the world.
Odinga was returning after taking his daughter to the Sreedhareeyam Ayurvedic Eye Hospital & Research Centre to follow-up on treatment for restoring vision that she lost back in 2019.
Rosemary Odinga said she came to Sreedhareeyam for the first time in 2019, at a time when her eyesight was almost nil. She recalled how she would walk with measured steps, one at a time. “After two years of treatment, I am able to even read messages on the phone. I and my family are indebted to Sreedhareeyam,” she said. She lost her vision due to a tumor in 2017 and the family sought a cure for it in countries, including in South Africa, Germany, Israel and China. The family came down to Sreedhareeyam when they heard about its ayurvedic eye care facilities and started treatment under Narayanan Namboodiri, Chief Physician, and his team.
Within four months, her vision had improved and she returned to Kenya. She has returned to Koothattukulam with her family to thank Sreedhareeyam as well as for a follow-up. The family landed here on February 7 and stayed for five days. Rosemary will stay back till February 28.
Narayanan Namboodiri said Odinga had suffered secondary optic atrophy as a result of the tumor and underwent various traditional ayurvedic procedures for its cure. Sreedhareeyam has been practising ayurvedic eye care for nearly 300 years now.
Around 25 years ago, Sreedhareeyam set up a modern ayurvedic eye care hospital in Koothattukulam with state-of-the-art facilities for diagnosis and ancillary services, while sticking to traditional ayurvedic methods for treating even advanced and complicated eye ailments. Hari N Namboodiri, Vice-Chairman, said Sreedhareeyam is proud to have cured the Kenyan leader’s daughter’s eye ailment and would be happy to set up an ophthalmic research institute and hospital at Nairobi in the near future. “It’s heartening to know that people trust Ayurveda and get good results from it. Ayurveda is not just a pack of few ready-made procedures. Ayurvedic treatments vary from person to person, depending on what medicines to use, when and how,” he said.