July 21, 2021
*The President* *Maharashtra Medical Council* *Mumbai* Dear Sir, This is to draw your urgent attention towards certain bogus and misleading claims being made by a Mumbai-based so-called doctor, Kailash Mantry. Among the numerous spurious claims made by him is the promise of “100% cure for Autism”. He then goes on to blame parents as to be the cause for this spectrum in their children. He declares: *”…Autism is caused by various reasons like deep-rooted anxiety and nervous, emotional, and mental breakdown. There is also no full-proof test for identifying the disease in people. We conducted comprehensive research on it and arrived at the conclusion that autism can be cured 100% without medicine…”, says Dr. Kailash Mantry. * [https://healthwellness.co.in/] Further, · *“…This disease according to our research is not because of any defect in the child, we are of the belief that the disease is caused due to the parents….”* · *“…It can be said that this disease is not a manufacturing defect but a handling defect. We have seen more than two hundred children, I have spent 3 hours with them and their parents. And I am 100% assured that due to the parent’s anxiety, stress, tension, difference in opinion, domestic violence, and other such reasons Autism is formed in the child…”* [https://www.kailashmantry.net/autism/] You are well aware that the theory of “refrigerator mothers” was debunked in the 1970s. Of course, prior to that it had caused enormous pain for many families for decades together. Today, there is extensive scientific research showing that Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors, and unrelated to "cold mothering." You will agree, the claims made by Mr. Mantry who at times uses various titles and designations including that of a “Life Coach” are not backed by scientific/medical evidence. Such dubious claims undermine all the work that is ongoing towards working for the rights of those on the Spectrum as also empowering families. These misleading claims push the families of autistic children into further vulnerability and blocks their agency. This defeats years of efforts of all the well-informed persons including medical practitioners, researchers, disability rights activists, and other professionals working towards improving the quality of life of families of autistic children and restoring their basic right to dignity. In addition to this, Mantry also declares that, the said cure is possible within two to three years of his treatment which costs Rs, 50,00,000/- to Rs. 60,00,000/- (Rupees fifty to sixty lakhs) per year. We see this as nothing but financial exploitation of vulnerabilities of the families of autistic children. The website goes on to claim that if there is no urgent treatment, the children grow on to experience sexual desires and “violent tendencies”. This is at all levels an abuse, coercion and extortion, pushing the families to further marginalization. [https://www.mantryhealthcare.com/service/autism/] Many other specious claims are also made on his website and YouTube channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX1cjI3s94ZHWzOs6RheFuw Among these are cures for depression, bipolar, anxiety, cancer, insomnia, premature ejaculation etc. On top of it, he also propagates that homosexuality is a disease. All these, you will concur are a gross and blatant violation of various laws, rules and ethics governing medical treatment in India. It also violates the provisions of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016. We are also given to understand that complaint/s has/have been lodged against him with the MMC earlier too. Under these circumstances, it is incumbent upon the Maharashtra Medical Council to act fast to repudiate such claims being made by Kailash Mantry, for what it is and also proceed to take appropriate action against him, as per law established, before he causes more damage. Yours truly, Sd/- 1) Muralidharan, GS, National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled 2) Seema Lal, Founder, Together We Can Kerala, Researcher-Empowerment 3) Kanti Ganguly, GS, Paschim Banga Rajya Prathibandhi Sammelani 4) Namburajan, GS, TN Assn for the Rights of Differently-Abled & Caregivers 5) Vijayan, President, Differently-Abled Welfare Federation, Kerala 6) Sathwik Adivaiah, GS, Vikalangula Hakkula Jathiya Vedika, Telangana 7) Prof TMN Deepak, State President, December 3 movement, Tamilnadu 8) Appala Naidu, GS, Vikalangula Hakkula Jathiya Vedika, Andhra Pradesh 9) Rishikesh Rajli, GS, Haryana Viklang Adhikar Manch, Haryana 10) Rangappa, GS, Karnataka Rajya Angavikalara Mattu Palakara Okkota 11) Salil Debbarma, Secretary, Tripura Prathibandhi Adhikar Manch 12) Dayabhai Gajera, Gujarat Viklang Adhikar Manch 13) Shampa Sengupta, Director, Sruti Disability Rights Centre, Kolkata 14) Lakshwadeep Disabled Association 15) Srikishan Ahirwal, Madhya Pradesh Viklang Adhikar Manch 16) Subash Gupta, Jharkhand Viklang Morcha 17) Merry Barua, Action for Autism 18) Dr. Satendra Singh, Founder, Doctor with Disabilities: Agents of Change 19) Rupsa Mallik, CREA, New Delhi 20) Asha Hans, SMRC, Bhubaneswar 21) Gautam Chaudhury, Kolkata 22) Meenakshi Balasubramaniam, Chennai 23) Shilpaa Anand, BITS-Pilani Hyderabad Campus 24) Shriyuta Abhishek, SEARCH Gadchiroli. 25) Bhushan Punani, Ahmedabad 26) Dr. Shubhangi Vaidya, Parent of a young adult with Autism 27) Vishu (Young adult with Autism) 28) Suchitra Narayan, Ernakulam 29) Anand Kumtha, Parent of an Autistic Son 30) Forum for Autism, Maharashtra 31) Dr Sangeeta Saksena, Co-founder, Enfold Proactive Health Trust 32) Kim Fernandes, University of Pennsylvania 33) Abhishek Anicca, Delhi 34) Bindhulakshmi Pattadath, Associate Professor, TISS, Mumbai 35) Chitra Iyer, Parent 36) Danish Mahajan, Founder, Radioudaan 37) Seema Baquer, Cross Disability Consultant, Delhi 38) Prof.Mohan Rao, former professor at CSMH, JNU 39) Parul Kumtha 40) Sunetra Neogy, Point of View, Mumbai 41) Viveka Chattopadhyay, Consultant ASD & CP 42) Brinelle D'souza, TISS & Jan Swasthya Abhiyan, Mumbai 43) Atul Jaiswal, Postdoctoral fellow, University of Montreal 44) Indu Chaswal 45) Dr. Bubai Bag*, *Asst. Professor, Bagnan College, University of Calcutta 46) Oshin Dhawan, Research Scholar 47) Nandini Ghosh, Asst. Prof, Institute of Development Studies, Kolkata 48) Sarojini N, Jan Swasthya Abhiyan 49) Veena Shatrugna, Fr. Dy Director, National Institute of Nutrition, Hyd 50) Gopi, Managing Trustee, Special Child Assistance Network (SCAN) Trust 51) Bhavna Botta 52) Dr. Aravinda Bhat, Manipal Academy of Higher Education 53) Dr. A. Marisport, Gujarat National Law University 54) Srilatha Juvva, Professor, Tata Institute of Social Sciences 55) Pavan Muntha, Disability Rights Activist, Andhra Pradesh 56) Maitreya Shah, Gujarat National Law University 57) Manisha Gupte, Feminist Activist, Pune 58) Ruby Singh, Parent of an adult on the Spectrum 59) Nachiket Udupa, concerned individual 60) Charu Sharan 61) Sunita Lele 62) Sushama Nagarkar (ASK) Adult Support Kendra 63) Nicole and Suhasini (ASK) Adult Support Kendra 64) Amar Pawar, PhD research candidate, Centre for Pol. Studies, JNU 65) Tapas Bhardwaj, Delhi 66) Aditi Muranjan 67) Dr Nidhi Singhal, Director, Research & Trainings, Action for Autism 68) Banibrata Mahanta, Professor of English 69) Hiranya Bhargavi 70) Rachna Chaudhary, Ph.D. Asst. Prof. (Gender Studies), Ambedkar Uni. 71) Arun Sagar, Jindal Global Law School, Sonipat, Haryana 72) Nidhi Goyal, Founder & Executive Director: Rising Flame 73) Abha Khetarpal, President, Cross the Hurdles 74) Bhanu Priya, Research and Program Associate, NCDHR 75) Nilesh Singit, Disability Rights Activist, Mumbai 76) Disability Activists Forum, West Bengal 77) Indrani Basu, Autism Society of West Bengal 78) Iona Kundu, MENTAID, (Association for Intellectually Disabled), Kolkata 79) Bahni Bhattacharya, Parent of Autistic Adult & Spl. Educator, Kolkata 80) Prachi Deo, Founder, Nayi Disha Resource Centre 81) Sanchar AROD, Kolkata 82) Sandhya Limaye, Professor, TISS, Mumbai 83) Tanushree Sarkar, Doctoral candidate, Vanderbilt University -- National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled (NPRD) 36, Pt. Ravishankar Shukla Lane New Delhi 110 001 Tel. 11-23387674; 9868768543 -- Disclaimer: 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails sent through this mailing list.. Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/accessindia@accessindia.org.in/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "AccessIndia" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to accessindia+unsubscr...@accessindia.org.in. 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