Sreedhareeyam, Ayurvedic Eye Hospital: Hope For The Eyes

(This article may be a little too long, but if you read it till the end, you would feel it was worth spending your time on it)

Background

Sometime in February of 2022, Sreedhareeyam Eye Hospital based in Kerala was in the news on a global scale when the former Prime Minister of Kenya expressed his profound appreciation of this Ayurvedic Hospital which restored his 44-year daughter’s eyesight, especially after the family tried treatment in so many countries without any success. She had become blind after a stroke in 2017 and spent two years in total darkness. *

*(https://www.news18.com/news/india/here-is-why-this-former-pm-of-kenya-is-grateful-to-an-ayurvedic-hospital-in-kerala-4762514.html)

He also requested our Prime Minister Narendra Modi for helping him establish an Ayurvedic Treatment plan in Kenya.

This Ayurvedic Eye Hospital is an absolutely amazing eye treatment center, the only one in the entire world, where if one wants to actually see with their own eyes, witness or experience miracles, this is the go-to place.

One of its Kind: Sreedhareeyam

Treating patients since almost 100 years, Sreedhareeyam has set up a modern facility for Eye Treatment in Koothattukulam in the state of Kerala in Bharat.

If one visits this hospital and their manufacturing facility with state-of-the-art technology and the cleanliness par excellence, the image one has of the Ayurvedic Hospital and manufacturing facilities, that even meets the requirements of US-FDA for ‘Current Good Manufacturing Practices’, would take a complete U-turn for better.

With 350 beds at the main hospital at Koothattukulam, Sreedhareeyam Group has 22 other centers as I write this. They have a combination of 8 Inpatient and 14 Outpatient centers.

There are totally almost 100 doctors treating the patients covering all of their centers including seven members of Nelliakattu family, who are also doctors and form the core panel of senior doctors.

At the main hospital at Koothattukulam, more than 83,500 patients have undergone Out Patient consultation and 7200 patients have undergone Inpatient treatment, at the main hospital at Koothattukulam during the past two financial years.

Over a period of almost thirty years, lives of thousands of patients have changed forever as I found by talking to so many of them during my two-weeks stay there in February 2025.

The stories I heard from the patients were completely incredible as well as magical.

In fact, these stories are so incredible that most people would never believe if they do not speak to the patients themselves.

Let me declare here that not a word I write here is figment of my imagination, that concerns the claim about the hospital and the outcome of the patients.

Personal Experience

I have my own personal experience relating to this hospital as an eighteen-year-old son of a close family friend was treated there successfully in 2009 after miserable failure by several ‘highly reputed’ and ‘high-profile specialists’ in treating his condition.

Travails of a Young Man

Initially, he developed redness in one eye, called Uveitis, which would not go away for a couple of weeks, so the family got worried and took him to a family physician and then later on to a local ophthalmologist. A couple of visits resulted in the prescriptions of some eye drops but that did not help, so one day, the doctor injected him with a steroid medication, which normally would reduce inflammation, and redness is the symptom of inflammation. The ophthalmologist used the words ‘there is fire behind his eyes, so this is the only option’.

However, that too did not help and in a few days’ time, his intraocular pressure shot up to almost 35-40 (which went up to 60 later, while the normal is 20) in both the eyes, which actually was a side effect of the steroid which is a very well-known fact and the doctor assured that it would come back to normal after a few days.

But it did not become normal for a long time. So, now he was struggling to deal with two conditions, Uveitis and Glaucoma (rise in Intraocular pressure).

Endless Agony

The days and months of agony started. Visit after visit, one specialist after another, one kind of treatment after another, and nothing was working. Several specialists diagnosed several conditions, all postulations and idiopathic (in layman’s language, guesswork), such as Rheumatoid Arthritis Uveitis, Connective Tissue Disorder, Wegener’s Granulomatosis and they all wanted to try treating one or more of these conditions. One specialist suggested treatment for Connective tissue disorder which was similar to Chemotherapy. Another specialist suggested Trabeculectomy, a Glaucoma surgery of the eye that would create a new pathway for the fluid inside the eye to be drained with a comment that, if not done, he may even lose his vision. Total 7 doctors, most of them eye specialists, and almost a year of trial and tribulations later, his condition was getting worse. After the first raise in his Intraocular pressure to 35, it stayed in the range of 35-60 for a long time.

Finally, another specialist doctor told the family that he needs to take Cellcept, a medication that is normally prescribed for patients who undergo transplant surgery which fights the rejection of the transplanted organ by weakening the immune system. Taking this medication may be fine for those who get organ transplanted in their body and to retain them, there is no other option but to take these medications and it is fine if one takes this medication at a much older age. But for a teenager to take this medication means a huge negative impact in his normal living.

So, the parents declined to start the son on this medication and started the search for some Ayurvedic treatment. This story is almost 15-16 years old, so Sreedhareeyam was not easily available to find out on Google. But, when one puts his/her head down coupled with Prarthana, Prabhu comes to help. Prarthana (prayer) has immense shakti. This is our personal experience.

A Ray of Hope

Both parents worked day and night to find out some Ayurvedic treatment plans that would help their son. Mother would stay awake till late at night and keep doing searches on the internet. They were sleepless, relentless, and getting drained out of their energy. But they kept trying.

Finally, the mother found a ray of hope.

She found a blog, written by someone who lived in New York, about his own experience with Sreedhareeyam, and as luck would have it, he had a similar condition as their son. She somehow managed to get in touch with the person and heard from him about his personal experience. The closing sentence that gentleman said was that if I were you, I would catch the first flight after this conversation is over.

The parents followed his advice.

The father and the son, both left for Sreedhareeyam Hospital in Kerala in next few days and stayed there for 3 weeks.

Since the son had two different conditions, Uveitis and Glaucoma, Sreedhareeyam’s vaidya (doctor) suggested treating only one condition at a time, which was Uveitis.

The doctors advised the son to continue all his Allopathic eye drops as advised by the doctors in Canada.

The End Begins

Lo and behold, Uveitis was gone in 3 weeks. For good.

The hospital asked him to return for Glaucoma treatment after 4 months.

So, he did.

The son admitted himself for 3 weeks for the treatment and in 2 weeks’ time, his Intraocular pressure came back to normal in the range of 12-18.

He continued Ayurvedic medications for six months, while his Allopathic eye drops were tapered off.

Once back in Canada, he kept monitoring his Intraocular pressure for six months and it never raised its ugly head, ever again.

Smiles are Back

This handsome highly educated 35-year-old young man got married in the summer of 2022 to a beautiful lady and is having an excellent career as well as a very happy life ahead.

For a second, imagine this scenario.

What if the parents had succumbed to the pressure of the ‘specialists?

I am not at all trying to say here that modern medicine has nothing good for the people. There are a lot of areas where modern medicine is a blessing for mankind; like in cases of accidents, trauma, infections, emergency situations, a lot of surgeries etc.

It would be good for the mankind if modern medicine respects the age-old tried and tested for thousands of years Ayurvedic field as well. At personal level, there are thousands of doctors in this modern medicine who are open-minded and who do respect this ancient knowledge. Unfortunately, it is the professional bodies of these physicians that have usurped the power of ‘the-only-healthcare-providers’, and have monopolized the truth by virtue of their stranglehold on politics, media and academia.

The ancient Ayurvedic treatment is laughed at and considered as primitive and a sign of backwardness.

Catching up with the Modernity

Sreedhareeyam Ayurvedic Research and Development Institute has undertaken a series of structured clinical studies focusing on chronic and degenerative eye conditions, demonstrating the potential of Ayurvedic interventions in managing diseases, where modern treatment options are limited.

Since the need of the modern science is ‘Clinical trials’, Sreedhareeyam management has taken a pragmatic path to answer the questions before they are raised.

The positive outcomes have been observed in the following medical conditions:

Diabetic Retinopathy: Showed marked reduction in retinal hemorrhages and improved outcomes linked to glycemic control, indicating a synergistic role of Ayurvedic ocular therapies.
Progressive Myopia: 90% of the patients experienced halted axial elongation and an average 1.5D reduction in refractive error.
Keratoconus: 80% the subjects showed stabilized corneal thinning and improved best-corrected vision.
Age-Related Macular Degeneration: In 40 elderly patients, observed reduced drusen volume and enhanced antioxidant biomarkers, supporting the role of Ayurvedic care in geriatric eye health.

All protocols were scientifically validated, reproducible, and some were endorsed by AYUSH ministry for potential scalability.

In addition to these major studies, numerous case reports on Ayurvedic management of various ocular and systemic conditions have been published, showcasing individual patient outcomes and therapeutic innovations.You may view published research here: https://research.sreedhareeyam.com/published-articles

Generous to the Core

The philosophy of altruism runs deep in the Nelliakattu family, the values that have been passed from generations. It does strongly believe that money should never be a constraint for ophthalmic treatment that Sreedhareeyam can provide. Towards this end, there are two initiatives and both have been in place since the setting up of the main hospital.

Every week, two free Out Patients camps are conducted at the main hospital, under the umbrella of the R&D wing, Sreedhareeyam Ayurvedic Research & Development Institute. These camps are held every Monday and Friday. Though, the facility is for people who are economically weak, there are no conditions set for people who avail this facility – all are welcome. Patients, who avail this service are offered free registration, free consultation, free diagnostics and also free medicines – Zero payment.
For Inpatient treatments, under the charity scheme; a total of 12 beds are allocated. Patients, from the economically weak strata, whom Vaidyas at Sreedhareeyam feel that Inpatient treatment is required, are selected through a laid down process and treatments are provided.

And, most interestingly, they are open to sharing the goodness of Ayurveda with competent and qualified people. The family tradition of treatments gets passed on to our panel of employee doctors, by virtue of their job requirements. They also provide training to other doctors who come here for short courses. Apart from this, the AYUSH Ministry of the Central Government, sponsors 8 doctors every year from the Rashtriya Ayurveda Vidyapeeth for training at Sreedhareeyam.

Some Important Observations

Before I close, I must mention about some very important observations which must be shared with the readers:

The first dose of treatment for a new patient is provided in at least 300-year-old home Dhanvantari mandir in the hospital. Dhanvantari is the Devata of Ayurveda as per the Sanatana Dharma teachings.
When the patients are discharged, they are provided medications for 3-6 months, a day before their discharge, and it’s a tradition that all the medications are kept in the mandir overnight by the patient, to be blessed by Bhagwan Dhanvantari.
One patient, an edible-oil king from Maharashtra, who had come to Sreedhareeyam after 25 years of trying Allopathy in different countries and was gradually losing his vision and when he visited Sreedhareeyam for the first time, his vision was merely 5%. He was not disappointed as here at Sreedhareeyam, they could stop further loss of his vision once he came for his treatment.
A 77 years old British Lawyer who had lost his vision completely, initially due to wet MD (macular degeneration) followed by two laser surgery in the UK as well as dry MD, who was brought here by a kind Indian friend. He regained some of his vision after the third treatment which changed his life completely as he was no more dependent on somebody for his living.
As I update this article today, on 30^thJune 2025, I have come across 4 more cases with outstanding outcomes (all from our city Windsor, Canada).

Sreedhareeyam does not stop to amaze me.