At a time when the medical services in city localities gain prominence due to bursting into seams of main hospitals, the Unani dispensaries especially in the old city wear deserted look raising many questions over the survival of the oldest way of medication that too in an area of its own popularity.
Fully furnished hospital from outside wear a deserted look from inside with no chairs, no furniture, and not even staff to attend the cases seldom turned up. What actually has left inside are the furnished walls with empty rooms designated for doctors and patients. This is actually the present state of the “Government Unani Dispensary, Mustaidpura,” a medical facility that was founded 10 years ago on 10th July 2010 and was inaugurated two years later i.e. on 31 March 2012.
Tugged in a densely populated area, this dispensary is located just a few minutes away from Puranapul crossroad leading to Asif Nagar. Spreads over an area of around 350 to 400 square yards this building is comparatively more spacious than any other dispensary in the city.
According to Sources, the number of sanction posts in the dispensary stands to seven out of which 4 have been filled while the remaining posts are vacant. The posts that are filled are Senior Doctor, Attender, FNO (Female Nursing Order), and Daya while the three remaining posts of Jarra, Compounder, and Sweeper still are vacant. However, the irony is the services of all the four appointed employees were shifted to other hospitals designated for COVID related cases on deputation.
The only person who talks to the walls inside the facility is a lady ANM serving there for a few years. The footfall in the hospital was around 150 but the number has narrow down to 20 these days. We are witnessing this situation for the last two years. However, we are attending cases whenever the people with trivial health issues approaching the dispensary,” said the official.
“The eight members of staff at the beginning of the dispensary eight years ago have now dropped down to 2 with only one senior doctor and a lady ANM is looking over the whole business. However, their services have also shifted to a hospital designated for COVID cases,” added the sources.
“There are no fresh appointments from 2009 in the department. Doctors and compounders retired several years ago have not yet replaced with fresh appointments leading to a shortage of staff in the dispensaries all over the city. The irony is whatever the staff has been left today has been shifted to main hospitals designated for COVID-19 cases that have left several dispensaries completely desolated,” informed, Khaled Ahmed, a local resident who is well versed about the affairs at the dispensary.
Blaming the government of adopting step-motherly behavior with the Unani, the Vice President Joint Action Committee Unani Medical Organisation Dr.Mir Bukhtiyar Ali Shaheen, said: “Out of all the branches of medication in AYUSH, only Unani has been deprived off from governments’ patronage.”
Besides pushing the Unani dispensaries to the verge of the extension he alleged that “The Nizamia Government Tibbi Unani Hospital – which considered one of the biggest Unani hospitals in Asia, has turned into COVID facility. It is nothing but a part of a larger conspiracy to diminish the popularity of the Unani way of medication in Hyderabad.”
