Friday, June 09, 2006

Go Fish

I have heard of this "cure" or "treatment", not exactly when, but ever since i was a kid.  My dad who used to visit Hyderabad often, brought us the stories about this 'fish medicine'. The 'fish medicine', is basically some mystery medicine, that is stuffed in a live fish, and the fish itself is now put into the mouth of the patient, to be swallowed whole.  This treatment is supposed to cure asthma. The treatment was supposedly given as a blessing to the family by a holy-man.

The medicine is made my a family, and is distributed free. So, therefore it is tough to directly attribute them as quacks. They attract huge crowds, but that doesnt necessarily mean, that everybody is convinced about this treatment. The doctors and rationalist have taken on this, raise issues relating to the process and treatment etc. There are legends that the medicine itself is some kind of steriod, which is what is used in asthma treatment all over the world.

Bathini Fish Story
Asthma patients make beeline for `prasadam'

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