What happened to the residents of Karachi!

Painless patient is in front of the doctor, but before the treatment the doctor is waiting for the reports of various samples of the patient’s blood, on which the diagnosis of the disease depends. This scenario belongs to the 21st century.

So what would have been the scenes of diagnosis of diseases by physicians in the recent past and centuries before Christ.

One has to turn the pages of history to observe these scenes of disease identification and treatment.

According to the medical historical references of the past centuries, no significant change was seen in the nature of diseases and accidents affecting the human body. Only the names of these diseases and their treatment methods remained different according to their respective eras.

Before the advent of the formal profession of medicine, before Christ, man in the jungles treated his own pain.

According to the consciousness given by nature, he used different means for healing. Foremost among these tools are the myriad herbs growing on the earth, the knowledge of which to heal depends on the maturity of consciousness and awareness gained over time.

After several more centuries, this knowledge continued to set many more stages of evolution, and thus the community of physicians came into existence, but it could not take the form of an authentic institution.

Physicians of those times used to prescribe these herbs as treatment to the patient. But the diagnosis depended on the physicians’ own experience. These ancient doctors were able to diagnose the disease from their patient’s appearance, physical structure, pulse rate and pressure.

Also, in ancient Egypt, doctors had some opportunity to learn during the mutilation of the dead body to “mummy” the dead body.

The ingredients prescribed as medicine included herbs as well as household items, and they were also easy to obtain. Hence, some of the remedies became known as home remedies. And these arrows were also well-aimed.

While taking prescription drugs and home remedies as remedies, the long duration of effectiveness, the impatient and hasty human nature that wants immediate treatment for every pain, tends to resort to drug addiction.

This negative attitude of patients and healers towards disease has been present in one form or another for thousands of years.

The well-known Greek philosopher and authentic physician “Babacrat”, known as the “Father of Medicine”, based on the observation of diseases and experience after traveling far away, provided a practical basis to the art of medicine by removing it from superstition and witchcraft.

Until the time of Hippocrates, every disease was attributed to the arrow of the god Apollo or the effect of a demon. Hippocrates ignored these superstitions and declared the disease to be physical. For example, epilepsy was considered a “sacred disease”. During which a person was said to be possessed by a god or demon. Hippocrates gave a correct explanation of epilepsy and many other diseases, which provided a correct practical basis for the art of medicine, and thus freed the art of medicine forever from giantism and superstition.

Due to this eternal service of the art of medicine, various universities of the world take the “Oath of Hippocrates” from their graduating students. Without this oath, no doctor can enter the field of his profession. After this oath, any doctor becomes bound not to do any kind of unethical work.

In the past, the human race has struggled with some deadly epidemics, these diseases have licked off a large portion of the population until the definitive cure was discovered. These diseases also had global effects.

In the context of these fatal diseases, we will see what happened to the residents of Karachi in those times, what measures were taken by the administration of that period to address it, and what effects the resulting conditions had on the society of the city.

The plague

By the mid-fourteenth century AD, the disease had claimed millions of lives in Asia, Africa, and Europe. Due to shipping from Asia, the disease spread to Europe and Africa. In Europe, the epidemic claimed millions of lives, where it was dubbed the “Black Death.”

Medical experts could not find out the causes of this disease, nor could they discover its cure. Amidst the fear of certain death upon suffering from the disease, in the midst of fear and chaos, strange and strange methods of treatment continued to be practiced, which ultimately resulted in death.

In 1896, the disease moved to Karachi, and due to lack of treatment, infected patients were confined to quarantine camps in isolated settlements like Lyari, Ranchhord Line, Ram Bagh and Civil Line, away from healthy people.

In 1897, this disease spread from Karachi to Thatta, Hyderabad and Sukkur. Due to the lack of methods of prevention and effective treatment of this disease, nearly two lakh people died in Sindh including Karachi.

Later research proved that the germs of this disease stick to the body of mice, and grow there. Therefore, a campaign was launched to catch rats to prevent this disease.

By the 1960s, signs of the disease had largely disappeared in Karachi, but the threat was still there. Therefore, as a precautionary measure, the management of “KMC” continued to distribute free cages to catch rats. Management officials would come every week, take cages full of rats and give away empty cages.

Cholera

The people of Karachi had not yet forgotten the devastating plague epidemic in 1896, but in 1903, the cholera epidemic spread its bloody claws and the city sank into a strange slumber. Every once in a while death seemed to creep up on everyone.

A cholera epidemic ravaged the city, killing the bedridden. There was chaos, many people went to the forests to avoid this disease, but death surrounded them there too. These unfortunate people could not get medicine, even a sip of water in their place. Whether it was a city or a forest, there were dead bodies everywhere.

Many such patients suffering from this disease were also brought to the hospitals who were unable to speak due to the severity of this disease. These patients who took Chip Simple would have lost their life within two to three hours. The mourners and heart-felt cries of their loved ones make the atmosphere sad.

smallpox

In the early decades of the twentieth century, an epidemic called “smallpox” severely affected the residents of Karachi. The pimples that appeared on the skin, especially on the face, used to dry up and leave small pits on the skin.

In those days, the smallpox vaccine was not injected directly into the flesh of the arm, but small needles about half an inch in diameter were dipped in a solution of medicine and rotated with pressure on the skin of the arm, causing the skin to break. And the medicine would enter the body. Even after the wound healed, two round marks on the arm that remained for life were evidence that the man had been vaccinated against smallpox.

Many people with these marks are still alive today.

TB

It will be surprising to know that TB was an incurable disease in the first half of the 20th century ie till 1940. It may have been treated in ancient times, but that method of treatment has been buried with these sages. But now its cure has been discovered.

The evidence of the incurability of TB disease are those films of the recent past, in which a person with this disease was shown slowly approaching death.

Some patients with the early stage of the disease even returned to life away from the city due to open air, proper food and care.

A hospital was deemed necessary to keep these TB patients away from other people, to provide them with a clean golden climate and a healthy environment.

A desirable plot away from the population was dedicated for the hospital by a philanthropist of the city, Vice Chairman of Karachi Municipality, Mr. Deep Chand Bhandas Ojha, which covered an area of ​​25 acres. On which the local government built a hospital in 1938 to treat such patients, which was named “Ojha TB Sanatorium”, where these patients are treated with utmost care till date.

Malaria

This disease, which is rapidly killing a large part of the human population, is not taken seriously today, because it is easily treated today, but almost a century ago, before the arrival of the British in Karachi. Due to the extreme lack of sanitation, malaria was a deadly form.

Its lethality can be seen in the fact that during the Second World War, a large number of soldiers on duty in the jungles died due to this disease.

This deadly disease, along with other factors, played a major role in the end of the Second World War, where the death of trained soldiers from all participating countries in the war broke their nerves.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the city of Karachi was engulfed in eye disease. To meet this attack, a dispensary was opened in the Timber Market area of ​​Le Market, which was expanded to become a large hospital for the treatment of eye diseases.

Because Dr. “KN Spencer” actively participated in the establishment of this hospital. Hence, this first major eye hospital was named “Spencer Eye Hospital” in recognition of the said doctor’s services.