Kerala’s first cancer specialist Dr. C P Mathew's body was cremated in Changanacherry (Kerala) as per Hindu funeral rites. His elder son Mohan and his student Dr Sreejith performed the last rites following instructions from Suryakaladi mana.
Kerala’s first cancer specialist Dr. C P Mathew passed away at the age of 92
One of the pioneers in cancer research in Kerala, Dr C P Mathew passed away at the age of 92. Born as a Christian in Changanacherry taluk of Kottayam district, he lived a Hindu way of life, made immense contributions to traditional medicinal systems like Ayurveda and Siddha.
Dr C P Mathew completed his MBBS degree and Post Graduate Diploma in Radiation from Madras Medical College. In 1954, he entered the government service and later took MS degree in surgery. While working as a doctor in Thiruvananthapuram Medical College, he became famous as an expert to treat cancer. He was the first to introduce Brochitherapy in India to treat cancer. Dr C P Mathew also played an instrumental role in setting up Regional Cancer Centre in Thiruvananthapuram.
Later, Dr C P Mathew became the vice-principal of Kottayam Medical College and has led the department of Oncology there. He has also worked in the medical colleges at Kottayam, Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram. After retiring from the government service, he joined the Radiology department at the School of Medical education in Mahatma Gandhi University (Kerala) as the department head. He was the first to introduce the protocol of combining radiation and chemotherapy to treat uterus cancer.
Even while being the pioneer in the modern medicine system, he never ignored the traditional Indian medicine system and tried to make use of all the derivatives of the traditional system. He has also done deep research on the capacity of the Siddha system to cure cancer.
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