Sri K. S. Madhavan
Managing Trustee
AM Charitable Trust.

At AMC Trust we have been wanting to organise a seminar of this type for a long time, where Cancer doctors from different disciplines can come together and deliberate on how to make Cancer treatment more successful and more effective.

Deep inside the hearts of Oncologists there is sadness and a sense of helplessness about Cancer management. Because an oncologist cannot go and tell the world that he would rid the Cancer patient of this disease and that he will cure him. The entire scientific community with all the competence, professionalism and human knowledge has been unable to find a solution and to provide a convincing answer to the menace of Cancer.

Though Cancer is the second most dreaded disease after AIDS today scientists really do not know what causes Cancer. Research has thrown up linkage of Cancer occurrence to certain indicators like smoking habit, dietary orientation, pollution, heavy metals etc. Still much of Cancer is yet to be properly understood. Also Cancer as a disease is specified in a large set of different types-in fact over hundred of them. Consequently there is no unified understanding of Cancer and the approach to the therapy in chemo- or radio -therapy is widely dispersed depending on the part of the body having Cancer.

AM Charitable Trust was formed in 1998 as a non-profitable, social service organization. The Vision of the Trust is to validate .one or more of the complementary therapies in Cancer management either as adjuvant or independent therapies with conventional chemo-/ radio- therapies. Our experience says that Oncologists alone cannot provide an answer to Cancer. They have to work with practitioners of other systems of medicine like Homeopathy. Ayurveda and the holistic system of Yoga to find a permanent cure for Cancer. We at the AMC Trust do believe and work to combine many of these alternatives / holistic therapies .We advise those who approach us also to do so. Under proper medical advice and care. You will find that our efforts have been producing positive results through many cases that would be presented in the proceedings of this Seminar.

As Dr. Nalini Rao observed during her speech in the first session, the treatment of Cancer today is a very costly affair. The costs are well out of reach of most poor or even middle- income-group patients. AMC Trust also aims to reduce the cost of providing treatment to Cancer patients through complementary therapies. The Trust would like to provide some monetary support (including for conventional therapies) to poor patients. As we run solely on philanthropy, we welcome the donations given by' the public/-interested parties. The motto of the Trust is to help improve the quality of life of Cancer patients besides prolongation of their lives and increasing the survival rates of Cancer patients.

Though it may appear that the Vision of finding a permanent cure for Cancer is unattainable and even arrogant (considering the present state of Cancer therapies), it is this Vision that drives the AMC Trust. And we do hope to achieve this Vision.

At the moment the Trust is focusing on Yogic therapies (Yoga Nidra & Chidakasadharana), Homeopathy and Ayurveda.

The Trust is conducting free Yoga Therapy sessions for Cancer patients everyday in some of the leading hospitals of Hyderabad - Medwin Hospitals, Nizam' s Institute of Medical Sciences, Indo-American Cancer Institute and MNJ Cancer Hospital and, we thank Padmasree Prof Kakarla Subba Rao, Dr Ramesh Babu, Dr B N Rao and many others for the immense help rendered to the Trust in permitting Yoga therapy sessions in these hospitals. Our grateful thanks to Dr M. Babaiah (one of our trustees) who personally monitors these sessions.

We are happy that almost all these hospitals are in the process of setting up their own yoga therapy clinics for Cancer patients. This way our Trust is glad that we have been able to impress upon the medical world about the significance of complementary systems of therapies.

Dr G.S Prasada Rao a leading Psychiatrist (who is also one of the Advisors for the Trust) is providing yeoman service to the Trust by validating reports of the patients using the EORTC questionnaire to evaluate the quality of life of these patients.

We find that a good percentage of patients have reported reduction of Ascites and relief from pain with a combination of different therapies. These reports would help us in further research to find out a solution for Cancer.

We also intend to organise Cancer Awareness Camps in rural areas and we take along with us a team of Oncologists and support personnel to these camps

We hope that with the help and cooperation of Oncologists and likeminded people we would be able to lay the Cancer problem to rest soon.