Thousands of asthma patients from across the country will line up at Hyderabad's Exhibition grounds on June 8 to get what is now being called 'fish prasadam' -- a yellow herbal paste, stuffed into a live three centimetre murrel fish that's slipped through the throat and swallowed.
The Bathini Goud family has been distributing the fish prasadam free of cost for over 160 years on the Mrigasira Karti day of the Hindu calendar.
With advance bookings made possible at multiple counters, those coming in for what is often called a miracle cure need not feel like fish out of water.
"I have been taking this for the last two to three years. Since they have given advance tokens now, it will be very convenient for me. They have also given exact time, so that is very useful," said Sudhakar, an asthma patient.
With lakhs of people coming in, it poses huge challenges for the administration and security.
"We are helping the local administration to ensure crowd is handled properly, without any accidents and also ensure everyone gets the therapy within the defined time period," said Sudhir Rao, MD, Bartronics.
Call it a miracle, medicine or a mere placebo, the authorities are expecting 1.5 lakh patients. This biometric technology will hopefully make life easier for those who come here with hope of getting well and also the organisers who hope all goes well.
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