Something fishy about asthma camp?

In its 163-year history of administering fish medicine to cure asthma, the Bathini family has never faced such...

In its 163-year history of administering fish medicine to cure asthma, the Bathini family has never faced such disappointment like it did last week. Used to seeing at least one lakh people queue up to receive the 8216;medicine8217;8212;a live murrel fingerling with a dose of herbal concoction8212;the Bathini brothers had less than 40,000 patients on June 7 and 8, the two 8216;auspicious8217; days they administer the medicine for free.

While the Bathini family is hoping that it was last weekend8217;s bandh8212;called by Opposition parties across the country to protest the fuel price hike8212;that made it difficult for many patients to come to Hyderabad, critics and rationalists say the popularity of the Bathini fish medicine is on the decline.

Harinath Goud, the eldest of the Bathini brothers, says he expected around four lakh patients this year. 8220;Due to the bandh, thousands of people who come from West Bengal, Bihar and UP could not make it this time. We had many enquiries in the last few months,8221; said Goud.

People buy murrel for Rs 7 each from stalls that the fisheries department sets up at the camp. Deputy director of fisheries Ram Gopal Rao said when they closed their counters on Sunday evening, they had sold less than 40,000 murrels. The murrel is a freshwater fish and the fisheries department procures thousands of these fish from Telangana.

A small ball of herbal medicine is put in the mouth of the 2-inch-long fish and patients have to swallow the live fish. 8220;It is very slippery and as it makes its way down the throat, wriggling its fins and tail, it clears the throat of phlegm and congestion. The herbal medicine is a secret known only to the family and we do it free of cost every year in June,8221; said Harinath.

Though no side effects to the fish medicine have ever been proved or recorded, its popularity seems to be on the decline. 8220;Last year too we sold only 50,000 fish though we expected around 2 lakh people, and the family claimed there were some 2 lakh people,8221; an employee of the fisheries department who manned a counter at the Nampally Exhibition Grounds in Hyderabad said.

The veracity of the medicine is being questioned by the Jan Vigyana Vedika, a rationalist organisation. They claim the medicine might contain steroids and heavy metals and even filed petitions in the Andhra Pradesh High Court. However, in January 2007, the court said it was 8220;not inclined to interfere and pass any orders regarding the administration of the substance popularly known as fish medicine. Various established laboratories have tested and analysed the substance and no one said it was harmful or contained dangerous elements8221; and dismissed the petitions.

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The Bathini brothers are unmoved by the allegations and controversy. 8220;Tell me what do we get out of all this? The medicine is given free, the patients by the murrels and the money goes to the fisheries department. We give the medicine with devotion and faith. It will either cure a patient completely or partly but there will be no side affects. We are absolutely convinced of that so these allegations don8217;t bother us,8221; said Goud.

Goud, however, agreed that the younger generation was probably reluctant about swallowing a wriggling fish. 8220;This year most of the patients were either children or people who have come for the second dose. I think there were very few new patients,8221; said Goud.