A pioneering stem cell treatment that promises to become the cure for all chronic diseases has been developed by a Scottish doctor in Florida.

Dr Dipnarine Maharaj, a former senior registrar at Glasgow Royal Infirmary and a specialist in oncology and hematology, is offering patients at his Florida practice the opportunity to have their stem cells harvested, frozen and banked – in case they need to combat a fatal disease in the future.

Around 40 per cent of the Scottish population suffers from chronic diseases – and by the time they are 65, the figure rises to almost 66 per cent, according to the Scottish government.

Maharaj, who was part of the research team that developed the first Scottish stem cell transplant programme in the 1980s, said his treatment had “enormous promise to become the future of medicine and a potential future cure for all chronic diseases everywhere”.

He said the treatment aims to preserve a patient’s healthy immune system, so it can be used years later when a chronic disease strikes.

He hopes the therapy will be of particular interest to those with high occupational risk – like firefighters, radiologists and pilots – because of their exposure to carcinogenic toxins.

The fire department on his home turf in Palm Beach County, Florida, has already committed to the programme, and 3500 firefighters are about to get what the local media here have already dubbed the “ultimate in bio-insurance”.

The treatment itself is little different than donating blood. Dr Maharaj injects a patient with a specific protein, which coaxes their stem cells to leave the bone marrow and enter the bloodstream. At this point, the cells are easily collected before being stored for cryopreservation in frozen nitrogen at temperatures below minus 150 degrees Celsius.

Stem cells are master cells and the basic building blocks of the human body. Researchers describe them as “unspecialized”, because they haven’t yet become specific cells – like heart muscle, blood cells or nerve cells.

Stem cells from bone marrow ultimately become immune system cells.

As we age, our body’s store of stem cells depletes and our immune system becomes compromised. This is why diseases like cancer, heart disease and Parkinson’s most commonly strike later in life.

Dr Maharaj said: “To fight these chronic diseases that are triggered by our modern environment, you need an immune system that’s strong enough to defeat the inflammation that causing the disease in the first place,” he said.

“Having your stem cells stored is like putting your healthy immune system in a bank vault and opening it when you need it. We all want to grow old without the diseases that cut our lives short.”

Dr Maharaj, who is originally from the Hillhead area of Glasgow and earned his medical degree from the University of Glasgow, said he is using the same protocol he helped devise as a research fellow during his time with the transplant programme in Scotland.

“The whole idea of reintroducing a patient’s own adult stem cells came out of our efforts in Glasgow to reduce the number of rejections from bone marrow transplants,” he said.

“The mortality rate of using another person’s stem cells is still between 20 and 45 percent. With your own stem cells, of course, there’s always a perfect match.

“But I also noticed when we were stimulating the stem cells of those patients in Glasgow, there was an improvement in the immune system. There are now thousands of clinical studies showing the regenerative effects of using a adult stem cell therapies.”

Asked why he left Scotland, he said: “Being part of that first stem cell transplant programme was great, but we never had enough money. There was always a funding shortage, so we could never do the things we wanted."

Dr Maharaj says said he has been using the same protocol for more than a decade to reverse diseases like cancer, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s at the medical centre he opened in 1992, about 60 miles north of Miami.

For cancer patients, Maharaj harvests the patient’s stem cells before they undergo chemotherapy. Although chemotherapy is effective at destroying cancer cells, he said, it also destroys stem cells.

After chemotherapy, the patient’s undamaged stem cells are reintroduced and activated to build up the immune system.

He says he may also be the first person to have successfully reversed type 1 diabetes.

Dr Maharaj claims dozens of successes. His treatment centre is dotted with pictures of people whose lives, he says, have been “turned around”. Television stations in Florida have made him something of a local hero.

He added: “My hope is this treatment will one day cure every chronic in every country in the world.”