US doctor speaks on Tibb-e-Nabwi revival

[LahoreEstate]

LAHORE

GEORGE Washington University Professor Dr Kelly Pemberton has said that there was a revival of interest in Tibb-e-Nabwi and Unani Tib.

She was delivering a lecture in Punjab University organised by Department of History in collaboration with Pakistan Study Centre on the topic “Islamic Medicine: Perspective on its Contemporary Revival in South Asia and the Middle East”. Dr Kelly is writing a book on revival of Tibb-e-Nabwi in Pakistan, India, Turkey and Egypt.

According to a press release here on Wednesday, she pointed out that the circumstances in the Middle East during 1960’s and 70’s have led to a revival of interest in Tibb-e-Nabwi and Unani Medicine. She emphasised that the failure of the secular state in Turkey and Egypt boosted the masses interest in Islamic Tibb. She conceded that general terms, Unani and Islamic Tibb, were problematic terms which were not easy to define. While tracing the history of Unani Tibb during medieval and early modern periods, she pointed out that the medieval manuscripts did not use this term and it came into vogue only in the 19th century. While emphasising the contributions made by Muslim scholars like Ibn-e-Sina, Nihavi, Suyuti, Razi and many others, she said that even Hindus, Jews and Christians worked as a part of a developed paradigm of Unani medicine, which was mainly a synthesis of Greek, Arabic and Indian medical practices.

Dr Pemberton also focused on key developments in the present day Unani medicine. She told the audience that different commissions in their reports have highlighted the growing interest in traditional medicine and made recommendations and suggestions on the dissemination of traditional medical knowledge and medico-¨legal ethics. She pointed out that international NGO’s and World Health Organisation were also working for creating linkages and networking between different countries and medical organisations. There is a growing debate on the effects of western medicine on Unani and traditional systems of medicine. According to her, the institutionalisation and registration processes in Unani medicine on the patterns of western medicine have contributed in the growth of Unani medical practices.

At the end of talk, there was a question-answer session and the seminar ended with note of thanks by Department of History Chairman Prof Dr S Qalb-i-Abid.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=165717