KARACHI, Dec 19: The Tibb-i-Unani mode of treatment was not accorded due status by the government in Pakistan and unless its significance is not acknowledged by providing jobs to the Hakims, their potential cannot be realised.

This was observed during a seminar on ‘ Eastern Medicines-Analysis of Medicinal Compounds and Plants’, organized by the Faculty of the Eastern Medicines, Hamdard Foundation Pakistan, on Thursday at its campus.

Speaking on the occasion, Prof Hakim Abdul Hannan, Dean, Faculty of Eastern Medicine and the principal, Hamdard Al-Majeed College of Eastern Medicine, said that the faculty was the brain-child of Hakim Mohammad Said, who was the pioneer of education in the field of eastern medicines.

“The major objective of the Tibb education is to develop competent graduates who would be well aware of the needed medical skills on modern lines and of current technologies”, he said.

Pakistan was a developing country and majority of its population was not provided with sufficient health facilities and for the same reason the need for a system of alternative medicine was felt, which led to the introduction of Eastern medicines for treating the ailments and related complications, the dean said.

He said that the system was intended to assist health-care professionals in evaluating the science behind the Eastern or Unani medicines and for determining that to what extent certain eastern medicines fit in the current treatment strategies and to understand their potential adverse side-effects and the drug-nutrient interactions.

Pointing at the lack of support by the government to promote the eastern medicines education in the country, he said, unlike Pakistan the Indian government encouraged this mode of treatment by organising it in a proper manner due to which India was currently exporting Unani medicines worth billions of rupees, he said.

He said that the South African government had also approved a plan under which Unani system of education would be introduced in three of its universities, besides approving its practice.

Samina Ishaq, Director, Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF), speaking on the occasion highlighted the aims and objectives of the foundation for promoting journalism in the country, specially, imparting training to the journalists in the rural areas.

The chief editor, Pakistan Press International, Fazl Qureshi, also spoke on the occasion.

Prominent among those present on the occasion were— Saddia Rashid, President Hamdard Foundation, Ajmal Mian, Chancellor Hamdard University and former chief justice of Pakistan, and Prof Dr Ismail Saad, Vice Chancellor of the Hamdard University.— PPI