Patients in the Pink City of Jaipur suffering from psychological ailments have the choice of seeking conventional cure, or opting for astrology to cure them of their illnesses. A local hospital in the Rajasthan capital city has come up with a unique way of diagnosing patients: Using astrology to detect diseases!

Doctors at the Sangeeta Memorial Hospital, which is located in the city's Vaishali Nagar area, say using astrology has not only helped them detect diseases but also provide the required psychological counselling to patients.

"We are trying to incorporate astrology into medical sciences. It surely helps us detect the disease among the patients. In Indian culture, astrology holds a lot of importance. We have one astrologer here, Pandit Akhilesh Sharma. When a patient comes in, he is subjected to astrological evaluation and astrological diagnosis. The medical and astrological diagnoses are then compared. Treatment is done using advanced technology, but we take the help of astrology for diagnosis. And the patients are satisfied," said Dr Mahesh Kulkarni, who is a surgeon at the Sangeeta Memorial Hospital.

NOT QUITE SCIENCE Sangeeta Memorial Hospital in Jaipur claims to have attended to 70 patients using astrology

It says the astrologer predicted the diseases correctly in each of them

There are 22 doctors and one astrologer at the hospital currently

It uses astrology for diagnosis, not for treatment, hospital said

To bolster his claims, he cited the recent track record of the hospital. "Till now, we have attended to 70 cases. And the astrologer had predicted the diseases exactly the same way as was detected during the medical diagnosis. Astrology is surely helping both doctors and patients," he added.

Presently, there is a staff of 22 members, including five doctors, that are working at the hospital. Apart from the 22, Pandit Akhilesh Sharma is also part of the team, and works as the astrologer.

"I see 25-30 kundlis every day. We use astrology only for diagnosis. When it comes to treating the patients, we use medical sciences only. And we use the astrology because the diagnosis is correct and no time is wasted," Pandit Sharma said.

The team is now preparing a new course with the integration of medical sciences and astrology, two streams which can together be called astronomical sciences. Besides this, the institute will also soon start training sessions for other staff members in the same discipline.

However, while the hospital claimed to have boasted of a 100 per cent success record with its unique approach of merging astrology and medical sciences, the news didn't go down too well on social media. Several users slammed the hospital for being casual with the health of its patients. Many users on Twitter even asked the Rajasthan government of Ashok Gehlot to take action against the hospital.

— ANI