Kuwaiti Princess Studies Acupuncture

Kuwaiti Princess Learns Acupuncture in Mumbai

In a country where traditional medicine is a virtual no-no, a Kuwaiti princess is aiming to buck the trend by learning acupuncture so that she can take its benefits to the four million citizens back home.

Last week, a Mercedes driven by a female chauffeur halted outside a small 1,000-sq.ft. clinic, located in a narrow lane in the congested Dadar area of southcentral Mumbai. The chauffeur asked her distinguished passenger, Sheikha Alia Salem Alsabah, the wife of Interior Minister Mohammad Al Khalid Al Sabah: “You have come here to meet a doctor?”

“Yes, since I have come here, you can well imagine what he must be…” the guest smiled, stepping inside the eight-bed clinic run by internationally-acclaimed acupuncturist Dr. P.B. Lohiya.

Expecting his visitor, Lohiya, 63, founder of Indian Academy of Acupuncture Science (IAAS), was well-prepared, despite a large crowd of patients in the clinic.

“I want to learn acupuncture as I have great faith in its curative success and benefits,” Sheikha Alia, 55, smiled, interacting with IANS at the clinic full of patients with problems ranging from back pains, irregular menstrual cycles, cardiac problems and cancer.

In her home country, with Indians and Egyptians comprising the largest chunk of expatriates, traditional medicines are virtually a no-no, she explained.

“Yes, we have a small acupuncture department in a government-run hospital run by Chinese medicos, but there is lack of proper diagnostic systems and cures,” Sheikha Alia said.

In fact, along with her daughter, Sheikha Alia recently travelled to China to get basic knowledge of acupuncture, but after a week of grappling with the local language problems and lack of diagnostic systems, she gave up her efforts.

In China, a medico informed her that she could learn a lot from renowned Aurangabad-based acupuncturist Lohiya, the only Indian visiting professor at the prestigious Beijing Meridian Research Centre and vice president of the Beijing’s World Association of Chinese Medicine. (Lohiya spends the bulk of his time in Aurangabad but attends the Mumbai clinic for one week every month. He also devotes time to his clinics in cities like Pune, Kolhapur, Nagpur and Hyderabad, besides travelling abroad.)

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