Cure for sure

Eventually,Ganjhu went on to believe that herbs could also kill viruses like rabies. Working on this belief,he finally came up with a herbal medicine that he claimed killed the rabies virus. “I chose my subjects in graduation and post graduation accordingly and also gave up my job to concentrate on this whole-heartedly. After a research of two years,heI made that anti-viral herbal formulation against rabies from a single herb in 2005. “I got it tested at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS),Bangalore and the Haffkine Institute,Mumbai and finally,at the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR),Delhi. While the tests tuned out to be successful at all the three places,I fail to understand what is taking the government so long to officiate the whole thing and introduce the medicine as soon as possible,” says Ganjhu.

A letter from S N Madhusudana,additional professor,NIMHANS states that the extract,when mixed with a known amount of the virus and kept for 30 minutes and then inoculated into mice intracerebrally,the mice did not develop symptoms of rabies and survived in comparison to control mice,that died within seven days. Similarly,the virus treated with the herbal extract also did not infect cell culture. It can be inferred from these preliminary experiments that the herbal extracts seem to have some virucidal effect on rabies virus but this needs to be confirmed by some more experiments. But when contacted,Prof Madhusudana says that ICMR authorities contacted him to conduct the tests again,and he also agreed to do so. But because Ganjhu was not ready to share the information about the origin of the herb,it became difficult. After Ganjhu approached ICMR,Vasantha Muthuswamy,the then senior deputy director general at ICMR did respond to his innovation and after the initial procedure,he was invited for a presentation at National AIDS Research Institute (NARI),Pune. He was asked to sign a prior informed consent form (PICF) to conduct in vitro and in vivo studies for the antiviral herbal formulation for Rabies.

“It actually did not even start and when after six months Dr Vasantha Muthuswamy retired,all my efforts were wiped out. I have been following it up with the current authorities there but to no avail,” said Ganjhu,adding,“I contacted Rajni Kaul,scientist-E,ICMR,only to know that they have lost my file and need time. After a long wait,they were able to find my file but since then,I have been getting assurances but no result.” When contacted,Rajni Kaul,scientist-E,ICMR,said,“Rajesh Ganjhu’s case is not that of an organisation. He has approached us as an individual and so it is not a routine procedure. Though I don’t know much about the background,I do know that the council wants to get it done but not without following a procedure.”

He adds,“If the previous tests have shown good results,what are the authorities waiting for? They can atleast hasten the process,not only to help me but also to help those who are dying of rabies,” he said.