Herbalist claims to have cure for deadly scourge

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“AIDS is curable,” claims Tamtan Abdul Majeed, a Kerala-based engineer-turned-herbalist. In the last eight years Majeed claims to have cured thousands of patients who had given up hope. And by the growing number of patients queuing up daily at Fair Pharma on Broadway in Ernakulam, Cochin, the claims do have some substance to it. These patients have come from different parts of the country just by word of mouth publicity.

The success rate of Majeed, and also the growing incidence of AIDS could be estimated by obtaining the data of income tax paid by Majeed. In the assessment year of 1995-96, his net income was Rs. 7.08 lakhs and according to him he paid Rs. 4.24 lakh as income tax. Next year his income was Rs. 14.61 lakhs and the tax paid was Rs. 6.64 lakhs. In the assessment year 1997-98 the net income was Rs. 1.73 cores and the tax paid was Rs. 68.82 lakhs. In the year 1999-2000 the net income was 2.38 cores and the tax paid was Rs. 76.25 lakhs. For the current year 2000-01 he has paid advance tax of Rs. 1.23 cores. According to the sources and also by Majeed himself, he is one of the highest income tax payers in the state. “I am one of the highest income tax payees in Kerala,” says Majeed. Like income tax, the Central Excise duty paid by Fair Pharma also shows a sharp increase from Rs. 19.26 lakhs in 1996-97 to 70.91 lakhs in 1999-2000. The CST increased from Rs. 16.69 to Rs. 38.84 lakh during the same period. The Kerala government sales tax paid by the company increased from Rs. 11.28 to Rs. 48.93 lakhs. Just by assessing the income tax figures of Majeed one can gauge the rate at which the disease is spreading. The AIDS scourge has proved to be a major source of income for the government. Without the help of advertising and support from the authorities, the sales and the number of patients visiting him have increased every year. This shows how much confidence people have in him.

Patients visit him just by word of mouth publicity from the people who have been cured or by the friends and relatives of those who have been cured.

“Inject HIV into my body. Allow me to administer my herbal medication I have developed and watch how I get cured. Jail me if I am a hoax,” these were the challenging words of T. A. Majeed before the medical community in a Star TV show hosted by Priya Tendulkar on March 2, 1997. Majeed on an average attends more than 100 patients every day. He has three other doctors to assist him. Requests for the medication reach him regularly from different parts of the globe. He has clients outside India too.

Majeed is not a doctor by profession. He worked in Neyveli Lignite Corporation and later was mining engineer in Kolar Gold Fields. It is really difficult for the scientific world to accept his medicine for he is not a registered doctor. Majeed feels that the multimillion dollar drug companies are indirectly acting as stumbling blocks in his progress. He feels that if his drug becomes popular than their money churning medicinal ‘cocktail’ would suffer. They are trying their best to scuttle him after the National AIDS Control Organization failed to present at least one client of Majeed who has sued him for cheating.

The most common question arises in one’s mind is that is he a quack or a hope in the modern world? Is he being singled out by the allopathic fraternity, the Indian Council of Medical Research. Is the world not able to digest the fact that there is a possible cure for AIDS not from allopathic but from an alternative system? Also there is Majeed, who claims to have cured thousands of patients. He has challenged the state AIDS cell and other bodies to conduct any test like HIV culture, Viral Load or P24 Antigen test on any of his patients to prove him wrong.

Majeed talks on AIDS and quotes the latest findings and facts with confidence. Majeed’s herbal composition is yet to be proved by the scientific world. But the patients have tested negative in P24 antigen tests in 100 days. The virus gets eliminated whereas the antibodies remain for sometime.

T. A. Majeed’s developed an interest in the Ayurvedic system right from the childhood seeing his mother cure the common aliments with herbs.

AIDS hit the scene as a new disease in the early eighties. Luc Montaginer and Robert Gallo had pioneered work on identifying the virus. It was in 1984 Luc Montaginer spotted the AIDS virus in Pasteur Institute at Paris. Research institutes especially in America tried all the known chemicals to kill the virus. They were unsuccessful to find a cure and still the search is on.

During this period, Majeed began his battle against AIDS through his knowledge of herbs and shrubs. Thus he launched his project in 1984. He was confident about the efficiency of the herbal therapy, especially its effect on the immune system.

His principle was very simple, find the drug which kills the virus and boost the efficiency of the immune system. Over the years reading from the Charaka Samahita, Ashanga Hridayan and Saharayogam, he combined around 23 drugs to find a solution. His medicine was more by chance than by research. In 1989, he perfected his combination of drugs. He named his medicine as Immuno QR consisting of 23 drugs, in which 4 are to kill the virus and the remaining to boost the immune system. He accepts humbly that even he is not aware how the drug works on virus and the immune system. He believes that most of Ayurveda base all treatments on principles rather on the scientific facts.

Majeed was absolutely confident about his drug and wanted to try it on AIDS patients to prove it to the world. But he could only try out his drug in 1992 when two patients used his therapy and later tested negative. Majeed claims that he had approached ICMR to test his drugs. ICMR decided to test the drug on 11 patients in May 1993. ICMR took his consent and first tested a 13-year-old girl on May 24, 1993. On June 8, another 10 patients were brought under the study. All this was done at the office of ICMR of Dr. Mrs. Mithilesh Chandra (Head of AIDS department ICMR). On July 8, he got a call from Delhi from Dr. R. Anand saying that on clinical examination all the 11 patients were found to have improved. They were awaiting the results of the P24 Antigen test and HIV Elisa tests. Later Majeed met the bigwigs of ICMR over lunch at a club; he was asked to give 25 percent share in his pharmacy by them. He was not interested in partnership so he offered them other alternatives during the period of negotiations recalls Majeed. The results were not published. He gave up trying to get his therapy recognized and went ahead with treatment of patients.

Dr. George Eassey a herbal therapist at California, had heard about Majeed. He contacted him and used Immuno QR to treat 40 of his patients. There was remarkable progress in all the cases. This trial resulted in a 75-minute talk show by Eassey on Washington State university Radio on Feb. 8, 1995. Eassey’s work was also available on a database managed by PPR’s news agency. This was a significant result but also it meant that the medication would be recognized as an alternative mode of therapy.

After the initial success he tried to advertise and promote Immuno QR in all the major newspapers and magazines. This caught the attention of many. The National AIDS Control Organization reacted sharply through counter advertisement reaffirming that AIDS cannot be cured and patients should not allow themselves to be cheated by quacks. The organization also dispatched a note to Kerala government to book Majeed. In September 1995 the drugs controller and Licensing Authority canceled Majeed ‘s license on grounds that “official books of Ayurveda are not known to prescribe any drug for the treatment of AIDS.” Later Majeed appealed to the government and the court and got the license reinstated.

The majority of his patients have come reading about him in the press and through word of mouth publicity. He is not allowed to advertise or seek publicity of any sort and through any media. (Bombay High court ruling.) Even in his website he is restrained from using the word AIDS/HIV. He has preserved the letters from many doctors across the country recommending their patients. A scientific inquiry would mean detailing the chemistry of all compounds, finding out the method by which each drug acts and then laboratory and clinical trials. Majeed is amenable to any form of trial and is willing to bet on the efficacy of the drug.

The medication consists of a syrup that has to be taken 4 times a day for 25 days. Following this, tablets to be taken for 75 days. The P24 Antigen test should be negative on completion of the course. The antibody test varies and may take 6 months to turn negative. The cost of this drug is only $800 abroad against what is paid in thousands for the allopathic medicine called ‘cocktail’ developed by Dr. Ho. In India it just costs Rs. 8,400/- inclusive of all taxes and handling charges.

The drug has lack of scientific basis and the only evidence is that it has worked for many.