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Something fishy about it, say sceptics: The Pioneer
Hyderabad, May 23: Continuing with its one-and-a-half-century old tradition, the Bathini Goud family, will distribute its famous fish medicine among the lakhs of Asthma patients in Hyderabad on June 8, the day of Mirgasira Karti or the first day of Monsoon.
Hyderabad, May 23: Continuing with its one-and-a-half-century old tradition, the Bathini Goud family, will distribute its famous fish medicine among the lakhs of Asthma patients in Hyderabad on June 8, the day of Mirgasira Karti or the first day of Monsoon.
As usual, nearly half-a-million people are expected to come to Hyderabad from all over the country for the herbal medicine, which is administered along with a tiny live fish. But this year the event will have a discordant note as a group of rationalists, doctors and scientists have challenged the scientific validity of this medicine and threatened to go to the court against the Government for making arrangements for this event. First a Vijaywada-based group of rationalists threatened legal action saying that the Government was encouraging superstition by providing facilities for the distribution of the 'miracle' medicine. Now the Indian Medical Association and the Pulmonolgists Association have also come out to challenge it. The two associations along with Jana Vigyana Vedika (JVV) have decided to carry out a study on the patients who take the medicine. This was decided at a seminar organized by the JVV in Hyderabad. The Indian Medical Association has demanded that the Goud family should submit their herbal medicine for evaluation by the doctors and scientists to prove that it really works on Asthma patients. The IMA president Dr M V Ranga Reddy said that if the family refuses to submit the medicine for evaluation, the Government should withdraw its support or the event.
The State Government has been making all the arrangements for the people who gather every year at the Exhibition Grounds in Hyderabad for the yellow-paste like medicine.
Earlier the event used to be held in the congested by-lanes of Doodhbowli area of the old city of Hyderabad, but in view of the hardships faced by the visitors, the Government persuaded the family to shift the venue to the sprawling Exhibition Grounds. Dr Ranga Reddy said that if it was proved scientifically that the medicine was effective in treating Asthma, it should be encouraged and made available to the people easily and not in the present manner.
But the Bathini Goud family has so far refused to reveal the formula of the medicine.
As usual, nearly half-a-million people are expected to come to Hyderabad from all over the country for the herbal medicine, which is administered along with a tiny live fish. But this year the event will have a discordant note as a group of rationalists, doctors and scientists have challenged the scientific validity of this medicine and threatened to go to the court against the Government for making arrangements for this event. First a Vijaywada-based group of rationalists threatened legal action saying that the Government was encouraging superstition by providing facilities for the distribution of the 'miracle' medicine. Now the Indian Medical Association and the Pulmonolgists Association have also come out to challenge it. The two associations along with Jana Vigyana Vedika (JVV) have decided to carry out a study on the patients who take the medicine. This was decided at a seminar organized by the JVV in Hyderabad. The Indian Medical Association has demanded that the Goud family should submit their herbal medicine for evaluation by the doctors and scientists to prove that it really works on Asthma patients. The IMA president Dr M V Ranga Reddy said that if the family refuses to submit the medicine for evaluation, the Government should withdraw its support or the event.
The State Government has been making all the arrangements for the people who gather every year at the Exhibition Grounds in Hyderabad for the yellow-paste like medicine.
Earlier the event used to be held in the congested by-lanes of Doodhbowli area of the old city of Hyderabad, but in view of the hardships faced by the visitors, the Government persuaded the family to shift the venue to the sprawling Exhibition Grounds. Dr Ranga Reddy said that if it was proved scientifically that the medicine was effective in treating Asthma, it should be encouraged and made available to the people easily and not in the present manner.
But the Bathini Goud family has so far refused to reveal the formula of the medicine.