Swallowing 'live fish' to cure asthma refuels controversy
The famed fish therapy of Hyderabad, capital of the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, has been in the news worldwide. For the last 160 years, the Goud family in the city has been administering fish medicine to millions of people.
Hundreds of thousands of asthma patients flock to Hyderabad city in the month of June on the day of Mrigashira Karthi (this year June 8), for the treatment. Since the formula of the therapy is strictly kept as a family secret, health experts have expressed doubts over the benefits of this fish treatment.
'Live fish' asthma cure stirs fresh controversy
Now, fresh controversy is brewing over the use of this ultra-famous fish therapy, in which a 2- to 3-inch long murrel fish which carry a drop of the secret formula is given to the asthma patients to swallow.
Expressing their concerns over the secretive formula of the live fish therapy, Andhra Pradesh Balala Hakkula Sangham, a child rights association, has urged the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) to ban the `fish medicine' for children below the age of 14, stating that the medicine may have side effects on the kids.
Petition seeking ban
In its petition filed before the APSHRC, the child rights association sought to stop the practice of giving fish ''medicine'' to children, alleging that forcibly administering "unscientific" fish medicine to children was a violation of human rights.
The petitioner, Achyut Rao, the state president of the Sangham, claimed that there's no scientific proof that giving fish medicine really cured asthma, and that the therapy may spread infection.
"The process of giving the medicine is unhygienic as the person gives it to lakhs (hundreds of thousands) of people without washing their hands," added the petition.
Report on the therapy summoned
Moved by the Sangham's petition, Andhra Pradesh Human Rights Commission on Tuesday ordered that children below the age of 14 should not be administered this live-fish-swallowing therapy.
The APSHRC acting Chairman Kakumanu Peda Peri Reddy asked the Hyderabad Collector Natarajan Gulzar to give a report over the complaint before the Commission by June 6.
The popular fish therapy
Asthma patients from different parts of India congregate in Hyderabad every year to gulp down a live 'murrel' fish. The Bathini Goud family of Doodhbowli in the old city of Hyderabad has been administering the fish medicine free of cost for 165 years.
Thousands of sufferers stand in long queues to swallow the small live fish with a special yellow herbal paste in its mouth.
A patient is required to take this treatment for three consecutive years to get permanent relief. It is necessary that a person should not eat or drink four hours prior to and two hours after the administration of fish medicine.
Medicine remains a family secret
The herbal paste, the ingredients of which are collected secretly over a period of two to three months prior to the distribution day, is believed to cure asthma and other respiratory diseases.
The Goud family claims to have received the medicine recipe from a Hindu saint in 1845. They mix the ingredients a day before the appointment, using water from the Goud family's well.
Bathini Harinath Goud, head of the family, declines to reveal the secret herb formula, saying, "It has been the practice of the Goud Family for the past 166 years to offer this medicine free of cost to those who need it."
As of the controversy surrounding the safety and hygiene of the therapy, Bathini Harinath told AFP that children were not at risk and that those who complained were lured by pharmaceutical firms that produce mainstream asthma drugs.
"These companies are paying money to rake up the issue as they are worried about the fish medicine affecting their business interests since what we administer is a permanent cure for asthma," he claims.
__._,_.___
