Mumbai doc's healing mission: Stem cell therapy for wounded Kurdish soldiers
QUAID NAJMI
Recovering from the ravages of the nine-year-long Iraq War which ended in 2011, the oil-and-gas rich Kurdistan Region in West Asia is now slowly getting on its feet in terms of development and progress for its 50-lakh (five million) population.
Kurdistan paid heavily - in terms of human casualties and economic resources - which ultimately led to major successes like the capture and execution of former Iraq dictator Saddam Hussein in Decemeber 2006, the pinpointed killing of the terror group Al-Qaeda' chief Osama Bin Laden in May 2011, besides eliminating the dreaded ISIS operatives.
As peace once again reigns in Kurdistan Region, the government headquartered in Erbil invited prominent Mumbai scientist, Dr. Pradeep V. Mahajan to study and advise on the country's health network with specific reference to the Peshmerga Army veterans.
"Of the 300,000 soldiers in the Peshmerga Army, more than 20,000 have suffered different types of 'war injuries', serious or of permanent nature, though not fatal. My work is to prepare a master-plan on how to rehabilitate these 20,000 war heroes and help them lead near-normal lives," Dr. Mahajan told IANS from Erbil.
He found that the soldiers suffered from partial or total loss/amputation of limbs, head or trauma injuries, genitals, and other major or minor problems of skin, respiratory and blood circulation issues, etc.
"For starters, I have suggested a combination of Artificial Intelligence induced stem cell therapy with Bionic body parts, which will help the soldiers, including many women fighters, to bounce back from the most serious injuries," said Dr. Mahajan, who is Chairman of StemRX Bioscience Solutions Pvt Ltd.
He explains that stem cells work 'like a miracle' for skin, sensory organs, nervous system tissues, musculo-skeletal system, circulatory or pulmonary tissues, genitals or testicles, victims of acute radiation syndrome and development of novel biosensors.
"Stem cell therapy has proved a boon for a large number of patients across the world, even in India, as it can treat complex diseases quickly, safely, and permanently without any complications, to all patients," Dr. Mahajan asserted.
Indian Consul General in Erbil Subhash C. Kain , high-ranking Kurdistan and Ministry of Peshmerga officials, top military officers like Major-Gen. Hosmand Haider and Major Dr. Dana Ali, army and civilian doctors enthralled as Dr. Mahajan highlighted the benefits of the combination of "stem cell, artificial intelligence and bionic body parts" to effect a revolutionary change in the lives of the war survivors.
The 62-year-old scientist envisages the Peshmerga Hospital (being built by Germany) as the hub for the broad treatment protocols, training of army and civilian medicos, who would then fan out and render the therapies to needy soldiers elsewhere in their mountainous country.
"I plan to bring the expertise and staff from my Mumbai hospital, technology and equipment from Europe or the USA and train the local Kurdistan medical staff. The entire set-up will be ready within a year and the complete treatment of all the survivor-soldiers can be achieved within 8-10 years," he said, preparing to don a modern-day 'avatar' of the legendary Dr. Dwarkanath Kotnis.
On his strategies in India, Dr. Mahajan, who shot into limelight for introducing stem cell based treatment for the Covid-19 scourge, said that among other things, he is working on stem cell therapy to grapple the problem of malnutrition among infants, children in Maharashtra and other tribal or backward regions of the country.
A consultant providing stem cell based remedies to many celebs like top Indian political leaders, industrialists, sportspersons and of course, films and glamour world, Dr. Mahajan is engaged in various capacities with US universities and bagged the coveted UK's 'Global Health & Pharma Awards-2021' for achievements in his specialised domain.
(Quaid Najmi can be contacted at: [email protected])