Wellness festival begins with launch of cancer app

Patna: The three-day ‘Health and Wellness Festival 2016’, organised by Grameen Sneh Foundation, began on Friday with the launch of an application, ‘Sneh’, dedicated to cancer patients. The application will prove to be a meeting point of doctors, patients and their families. It will also be a repository of information on cancer that one can download to know the preventive aspects of the disease.
The day started with parallel workshops on yoga, laughter therapy, Korean therapy and acupuncture. One can register free for these three-hour workshops.
The first day of the programme was dedicated to integration of therapies, food and healthy lifestyle. It saw participation of yoga guru and chancellor of Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhaana Samasthanam H R Nagendra, Goa-based secretary of The World United Doctors’ and Healers’ Association Darryl D’Souza, Delhi-based oncologist Dr Meenu Walia and Bihar IAS officer S M Raju.
H R Nagendra, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s yoga guru, told TOI that yoga with modern medicine can cure cancer. “When patients come to our centre, we always advise them to take all modern therapies. After medical therapies, they stay at our centres and follow routine that includes naturopathy, yoga, physiotherapy and acupuncture sessions,” Nagendra said.
D’ Souza, on the other hand, claimed that his centre cures diabetes patients within a month. Experts, though, doubted his claim. D’Souza said diabetes patients should avoid refined cooking oil, milk and aluminum vessels as aluminum leads to blockages in pancreas.
The session was inaugurated by acting chief justice of Patna high court Iqbal Ahmad Ansari who emphasised on preventive aspects of the disease. Oncologist Dr J K Singh said 70% cancers can be cured easily if screening programmes are organised at regular frequency.
Cine star and Patna Sahib MP Shatrughan Sinha said tobacco is the root cause of cancer in Bihar and the policymakers need to look into it. Bollywood actor Manisha Koirala, a cancer survivor, and Delhi-based Dr Meenu Walia said people should visit doctors for routine check-ups.