J. Hareendran Nair: Pioneer of Ayurveda in Kerala

From V.K. Krishna Menon in Public Affairs (1954), John Matthai in Literature & Education (1959), Kerala has given numerous gems to the country. Kerala is also regarded as one of the states with the highest literacy rate. Similarly like the above-mentioned personalities, J. Hareendran Nair is an Indian Ayurveda physician and an entrepreneur from Kerala.

He runs a business group named Pankajakasthuri. This particular business group has also been contributing to the promotion and popularization of Ayurveda and ayurvedic products all over the country. In 2012, the government honored him with the award of Padma Shri for his services to the better cause of Ayurveda.

Life Story and Education

Nair was born in a family with scanty means at Kattakkada, Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala. His father's name is Janardhanan Nair and he was a document writer. Hareendran was the youngest in the family among the three children. Just after his early education at the Government Upper Primary School, Kandala and the Christian College, Kattakada, he went to join the Government Ayurveda College, Thiruvananthapuram. There, he graduated in ayurvedic medicines with a BAMS degree in 1983.

His medical career at first started working as a research fellow at Poojappura Regional Research Institute. But soon after when he was transferred to the Central Kerala town of Shornur, he resigned from that service in 1986. He dedicated himself for the next two years in the formation of Sree Dhanwanthari Ayurvedics. It is the forerunner of Pankajakasthuri Herbals India Ltd (PHIL) now, and that came into the stream at Poovachal in 1988.

The beginning days were much of a difficult phase that got some sort of light in 1996 when Nair finally started launching the ayurvedic over the counter products under his opening brand name Pankajakasturi. This brand wasn't any random common name. It was a combination of his mother's name, Pankajam, and his eldest daughter's name, Kasturi.

Nair was married to Asha who has been actively involved in the business at administrative levels. The couple has two daughters, both involved in the education of ayurvedic medicine too. The Nair family lives in Thiruvananthapuram.

Read more about Pankajakasturi

Positions Earned

Nair now holds various positions at the regional and national levels. The positions he holds have owned him great respect all over the country. The following positions are all results of his hard work:

1. The Managing Director at Pankajakasthuri Herbals India Pvt. Ltd.

2. The Managing Director, Pankajakasthuri Ayurveda Medical College.

3. The Managing Director, Pankajakasthuri Engineering College.

4. Chief Executive Pankajakasthuri Panchakarma Centres.

5. Founder and Secretary of Pankajakasthuri Herbal Research Foundation.

6. The Advisor on Ayurveda to the Government of Nagaland.

7. Member of the Regional Advisory Committee of the organized and service tax sector in the Central Excise & Customs, Thiruvananthapuram.

8. Member of the Medicinal Plant Board, Kerala state.

9. Founder Director of the Care Keralam, a cluster company in the Ayurveda sector means to promote Kerala brand ayurvedic products-

Patron of Chinmaya Mission, Thiruvananthapuram.

Awards and Recognitions

1. Nair has been awarded Padma Shri in 2012.

2. Management Leadership Award– Trivandrum Management Association.

3. Awarded with Sai Maa Award(international) for Ayurvedic Propagation.

4. Best Entrepreneur Award, Industries Department– Government of Kerala.

5. Yuvaprathibha Award– Ayurvedic Medical Officers Association.

6. Ayurvedaratna Award.

7. Entrepreneur of the Year Award– Berchmans Institute of Management Studies.

Spreading Knowledge

In the efforts of fulfilling his longing ambition, Hareendran established and funded one of the first Ayurveda medical colleges in Kerala in 2002. Located at Kattakada, the college provides education of Ayurveda to around 250 undergraduates and post-graduates with 80 of the faculty members. A hospital with almost 150 beds has also been attached to that medical college that looks after patients from all across the world.

Nair explains that the organization of Pankajakasthuri helps unfortunate patients from economically backward families on humanitarian grounds by providing them free medical treatment. The Pankajakasthuri Panchakarma Centre of the company is dedicated to the authenticity of Ayurveda treatment and strictly sticks to Ayurveda’s age-old practices. Moreover, this global pandemic that has impacted the lives of millions of people.

Response to COVID-19

Nair and his team initiated the re-creating an existing immunity booster – ZingiVir-H, towards the prevention of COVID-19. The company has been running tests and clinical trials all over the country to test the efficiency of the drug, which recently got completed. Pankajakasthuri Herbals has submitted the first report of ZingiVir-H to the Ministry of Ayush probably at the end of June 2020, while the internal reports of 42 patients were examined by a committee of the peer review were submitted on July 8.

The primary endpoint result of 116 patients has been submitted on July 24. The company claims that the patients were reported negative of RT-PCR results in an average of five days after taking that drug. Furthermore, the company is soon going to announce the results of the ongoing clinical trial of 135 patients these days.