Fish-medicine: miracle drug or phony pill?
Published: June 11, 2005
Protests rocked the city even as believers queued up in huge numbers for an answer to asthma
The waters surrounding the fish medicine turned murkier this year. From suspicions about the authenticity of the contents of the miracle drug to the slapping of a High Court directive that specified posting warning messages at the venue.
Hyderabad Times gets the low-down on the heated debate even as thousands queued up to ingest the drug-filled murrel from the Bathini brothers’ traditional medicine at the Exhibition Grounds.
Up in arms
Dr PM Bhargava, former director CCMB
The process is a violation of the patients’ right to information, and is thus unconstitutional, illegal and unethical. An analysis of the constituents of the medicine by Vimta Labs in Hyderabad had found that the steroid content is dangerous to human beings. Those who are behind this mass deception should be put in jail, and the government should stop supporting them.
Chandana Chakrabarti, social activist
The patients who are taking the drug every year are not monitored, and there is no proof to show that they are all asthmatic or that they have been cured by the fish. It is illogical to say that if the content is revealed the medicine would lose its effect, or it should be administered only on a specific date. We don’t even know whether people have developed fatal symptoms or died because of it.
Dr Gayanand, president Jan Vigyan Vedika
Our protests are based on a survey conducted on 1000 people who had taken the medicine for two years. None of them was cured. The government should spread awareness about the possible side effects of the wonder medicine.
Stop throwing stones
Bhaskar Rao, homoeo practitioner and social worker
Both my children were asthmatic and were cured by the medicine. Bathinis’ efforts should be lauded. Trying to prevent someone from doing social service does not make sense.
Alladi Chandrasekhar, ayurvedic physician
The Bathini brothers’ way of administering the fish medicine is in accordance with the principles of ayurveda. Many ayurvedic medicines contain crude forms of steroids whose side effects are nullified as they are plant extract. The Bathini brothers should not be blamed until they are found doing anything wrong.
Dr Dhiraj Nanda, homoeo practitioner
Every system of medicine has its limitations. It might work in some cases and fail in others, I have met two people who claim they were completely cured by the drug and I have treated many others who were not cured. There should be a proper follow-up on the patients before reaching a conclusion.
If you enjoyed this good news Subscribe to Good News Blog
Share this
To share this simply copy and paste one of the below URL's: