Dr. C. P. Mathew

 

The old man in the right in this picture can be easily mistaken for a great priest !!! No!  He is Dr. C P. Mathew who was the Head of the Oncology Department at Kottayam Medical College and later principal. On the 'right' is Brahmashree Suryan Subramanian Bhattathiri. 

Dr Mathew was the first oncology professor in Kerala, Head of the Oncology Department at Kottayam Medical College and then the principal. As a professor of oncology at the Trivandrum, Calicut and Kottayam Medical Colleges, he was the first to introduce brachytherapy involving insertion of radioactive implants into cancerous tissue, as well as use combined radiation therapy and chemotherapy to successfully to battle cancer. 

After retirement he became better known as a pioneer in Integrative Medicine, for he combined Siddha, Ayurvedic and other traditional remedies with modern medicine to the considerable benefit of end-stage cancer patients. To thousands of grateful patients and his students, he was Mathew Sir. Later when he retired he was a flying doctor and visiting professor of allopathic cancer treatment at universities in more than 50 countries. 

At the age of 60, he decided to unlearn everything he had learnt earlier and accepted a Lada Vaidyan (a physician of traditional tribal medical system), whom he met on the street, as his guru. 

Then this great doctor saved tens of thousands of cancer patients from death using the neo-pagan Siddha medicine he learned from the late lada guru. Patients he saved include many rejects ftom  the Mayo Clinic in America.  

He was an in-depth student on Indian cultural texts, including the Vedas and the Upanishads.  What's more, he received the Upanayana from Suryakaladi Mana, famous for its "Tantric rituals" and spent the rest of his life as a Sanatana Dharma Acharya. 

Dr Mathew passed away on 20 Oct 2021 at the age of 92.