Unani tibb, or Greco-Arab humoral medicine, has been around for centuries but still has relevance to this day. Hamdard Laboratories is a pharmaceutical company that practices unani tibb and sells drugs that are produced to balance the four humors. Islam has also played a part in the operations of Hamdard. Hamdard has utilized religion to describe the projects of its foundation, justify the healing effects of their medicine, and organize its corporation. However, although the organization is still standing there are some conflicting issues that arise. Hamdard, explicitly or otherwise, reaffirms the common misconception that humoral medicine is unable to match the accuracy of the West. Throughout medical journals and other works, Hamdard bolsters …show more content…
Whether through ads about Rooh Afza, or selling “cure-it-all” garlic tablets, Hamdard has dominated the scene. Throughout the process, Hamdard has become more than just a medical society but a corporation. Hamdard sells products that are created to balance the four humors, but that’s not the only reason it has become popular. As aforementioned, Islam plays a part in Hamdard’s operations and organization. In Hamdard Medicus, one of the projects that Hamdard Foundation engages in is the distribution of the Qur’an to kids across India and Pakistan. In addition, Hamdard appeals to religion to stress that it is indeed a charitable organization. In the preface of, The Organization: Hamdard Pakistan, Hamdard is not introduced as a pharmaceutical company but as a waqf, a possession that is irrevocable with Allah as its owner. Hamdard, through its definition, implies that it is a non-profit with the sole mission of helping society and providing care to all who need it. Hamdard pushes it further by stating that Hakim Saeed, who is deemed “Waqif Mutawalli”, is the head of the organization rather than a CEO. Hamdard’s attempts to frame itself as a non-profit organization actually does a lot for its corporate success as well. This presentation changes the way people view their operation. For instance, the purchasing of their products doesn’t contribute to “profits” but rather …show more content…
With its given status and power, Hamdard has failed to change the narrative of “Eastern” medicine. Throughout their works, they fail to embrace all aspects of science, specifically accuracy. Very little connection to “Eastern” science and calculation is made. In order to demonstrate validity, Hamdard refers to “Western” scientists and standards. As a result, it emphasizes the separation between the “East” and “West” and induces a conflicting relationship between the two. Hamdard, in danger of losing it all, was somewhat forced to take an aggressive stance in order to affirm its validity as well as its superiority. However, a there is still a glimmer of hope. Hakim Saeed, a leader of Hamdard, discusses the possibility of harmony between allopathic and humoral medicine. In Conflict or Symbiosis, he concludes, “We should, it is suggested, purge ourselves of narrow prejudices, parochial tendencies and too much faith in one’s discipline to the detraction of the other, and we should press into service all kinds of treatment.”5 Hakim Saeed urges his readers that synthesis is necessary for serenity and optimism and that the aim of treatment is to help others not the “promulgation or the publicity of a particular doctrine or line of
The improvement of medicine over the course of the human successes gave great convenience to the people of today. Science has cured and prevented many illnesses from occurring and is on its way to cure some of the most dreadful and harmful illnesses. As the world modernizes due to the industrialization, so does the ways of medicine. Some cures are approached by chance, some, through intense, scientific measures.
In the essay “When Doctors Make Mistakes” written by Atul Gawande, he writes a first-hand account of mistakes made by himself and his colleagues. The essay is divided into five parts, each named to the narrative and emotions of the story he would tell. In each story he tells, he uses such vivid language that we as readers feel as if we are one of his colleagues. Each section has its own importance to the whole point he was trying to get across, ““All doctors make terrible mistakes” (657).
This internal conflict is a result of the mistakes a physician makes, and the ability to move on from it is regarded as almost unreachable. For example, in the essay, “When Doctors Make Mistakes”, Gawande is standing over his patient Louise Williams, viewing her “lips blue, her throat swollen, bloody, and suddenly closed passage” (73). The imagery of the patient’s lifeless body gives a larger meaning to the doctor’s daily preoccupations. Gawande’s use of morbid language helps the reader identify that death is, unfortunately, a facet of a physician’s career. However, Gawande does not leave the reader to ponder of what emotions went through him after witnessing the loss of his patient. He writes, “Perhaps a backup suction device should always be at hand, and better light more easily available. Perhaps the institutions could have trained me better for such crises” (“When Doctors Make Mistakes” 73). The repetition of “perhaps” only epitomizes the inability to move on from making a mistake. However, this repetitive language also demonstrates the ends a doctor will meet to save a patient’s life (73). Therefore, it is not the doctor, but medicine itself that can be seen as the gateway from life to death or vice versa. Although the limitations of medicine can allow for the death of a patient to occur, a doctor will still experience emotional turmoil after losing someone he was trying to
All the knowledge these doctors knew was based on: Humour, what brain function each internal organ controls, and how to protect themselves from it. Furthermore, the basic knowledge all these doctors knew was: There are only four elements in the world, each element represented a humour, and all four humours are balanced in the human body. Humours are “natural bodily fluids”. They correspond to the elements and have various qualities: cold, dry, hot, and moist.” (Ross)
Print. Doak, Robin. Empire of the Islamic World. Rev. ed.
In his encounter with a young boy, Lee Tran, who suffered from a tumor compressing his airway which obstructed his ability to breathe, Gawande discusses the sheer luck that resulted in Lee’s “tumor [shifting] rightward, [allowing] airways to both lungs to open up,” as the conflicted doctors did not pursue the safest course of treatment (Gawande 6). This anecdote validates the fact that often doctors cannot foresee the optimal course of action through the smoke of crisis and relied on essentially random chance to save the young boy’s life. Gawande sums up this experience as he admits that while there is science in the profession, there also exists “habit, intuition, and sometimes plain old guessing” (Gawande 7) - rendering the science imperfect. These qualities - habit, intuition, and “plain old guessing” are not empirical qualities proven through the scientific method but rather unquantifiable, refuting the stereotypes conferred by the myth of an infallible science and revealing the medicine is ultimately a human
The philosophy and practice is composed of many different systems of traditional medicine, which are all influenced by prevailing conditions, environment, and geographic area within, where it first evolved into WHO (2005). Although it is a common
Beginning around 460 BC, the concept of humoralism emerged throughout the written works of Hippocrates. These early works, some of the only medical works of this detailed nature to survive this period, delineated one of the first ways scholars and physicians viewed the body and more importantly illness. Shaped by the Hippocratics’ version of humoralism and his own interpretations of their written works, Galen resolutely supported the fundamental four-element theory, the notion of the four humors, and the essential practice of healing by applying opposites by physicians. However, Galen’s education in anatomy proved an effective advance in his medical reasoning away from a non-ontological view of illness into a considerably more ontological and
In this work he presents an astonishing account of events in an unnamed country that strongly resembles Pakistan. The major theme in this work is shame verses honor. The Satanic Verses is probably Rushdie's most popular and most controversial work. In this ambiguous work, Rushdie explores the themes relating to good and evil, religious faith and fanaticism, illusion verses reality, and the plight of Indians who have relocated to Great Britain.
In modern medicine when an ailment arises it can be quickly diagnosed, attributed to a precise bacteria, virus, or body system, and treated with medication, surgery or therapy. During the time before rational medical thought, this streamlined system of treatment was unheard of, and all complaints were attributed to the will of the multitude of commonly worshiped Greek gods (Greek Medicine 1). It was during the period of Greek rationalism that a perceptible change in thought was manifested in the attitudes towards treating disease. Ancient Greece is often associated with its many brilliant philosophers, and these great thinkers were some of the first innovators to make major developments in astrology, physics, math and even medicine. Among these academics was Hippocrates, one of the first e...
Wrong theories of the anatomy have been assumed to be correct for thousands of years. Theories of using a scientific base were not used by the Europeans until the Renaissance period (“Medicine”). These theories, made by a Greek Physician named Galen, were supported by the Catholic Church. The Middle Ages were a difficult time to achieve medical advances because Galen’s theories were not to be questioned or tested(“The Impact of the Renaissance on Medicine”).Even after these theories appeared to be inaccurate, the support from such a high authority made it extremely difficult to change the medical practices and training(“Rennaissance medicine”).
Reid: Inside Ayurvedic Medicine”, it describes the experience of a veteran journal reporter and his trip to India in order to seek an alternative approach in his chronic condition that was occurring in his shoulder (Second opinion, 2008). Reid did a variety of tasks while traveling to India, such as a book project on the way other countries provided health care, but also as a patient to be treated for his shoulder condition. Originally, Reid received an opinion from his primary provider for treatment in his shoulder, and it was suggested that he should receive a shoulder replacement, which was considered an invasive procedure. After his discussion with his physician, he realized that he wanted to try an approach that did not involve surgery that was well researched about and was consistent in the world of medicine. He decided to then travel to India for this curiosity and skepticism that he had (Second opinion, 2008).
Every year, approximately 230, 000 to 400. 00 deaths are caused by iatrogenic deaths ( in other words, these are deaths caused by wrong medical treatments). Two of the prominent yet some what contrasting types of medicine are, Ayurveda, the Indian traditional medicine, and Modern (aka western) medicine. Both of these have their own processes and methods of healing, which over the years have created their own followers. While Ayurveda addresses the root causes of the disease through identifying the imbalances in the elements, called “Doshas”, it also emphasizes on a spiritual lifestyle which for most people in today's world is a sea change. On the other hand, western medicine addresses the symptoms and provides instant albeit temporary relief for suffering. Needless to say there are more followers of the western medicine due to its immediate impact on subsiding the pain. Out of lack of awareness to the significance of traditional medicine, especially Ayurveda, many doctors and researchers are against the use of Ayurvedic and traditional medicines, which limits the potential of curing certain ailments of patients without additional side effects.
Mohammed bin Rashid Quran Printing Centre launched. (2014, April 6). Khaleej Times. Retrieved May 3, 2014, from http://www.khaleejtimes.com/nation/inside.asp?xfile=/data/nationgeneral/2014/April/nationgeneral_April42.xml§ion=nationgeneral
Hippocrates, often called the “father of medicine” was one of the earliest contributors to modern science. He was called the father of medicine because through his medical school, he separated medical knowledge and practice from myth and superstition basing them instead of fact, observation, and clinical ...