Hamdard Pakistan, () is a Pakistani

unani Unani or Yunani medicine (Urdu: ''tibb yūnānī'') is Perso-Arabic traditional medicine as practiced in Muslim culture in South Asia and modern day Central Asia. Unani medicine is pseudoscientific. The term '' Yūnānī'' means 'Greek', ref ...

medicine company which is based in

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

, Pakistan. It was established by

Hakim Saeed Hakeem Muhammad Saeed (; 9 January 1920 – 17 October 1998) was a Pakistani medical researcher, author, scholar, and philanthropist. He served as governor of Sindh Province from 19 July 1993 until 23 January 1994. Saeed was one of Pakistan's ...

as Hamdard Laboratories (Waqf) in 1948.

History

Hakim Abdul Majeed (1883 – 1922) founded an organization called Hamdard Dawakhana in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

in 1906. At that time, it was a small clinic and herbal medicine shop. Abdul Majeed had come from a family that included many herbal doctors, and he joined the herbal pharmacy of the renowned Unani physician

Hakim Ajmal Khan Mohammad Ajmal Khan (11 February 1868 – 29 December 1927), better known as Hakim Ajmal Khan, was a physician in Delhi, India, and one of the founders of the Jamia Millia Islamia university in Delhi, India. He also founded another institu ...

. As he developed his knowledge of medicine, he became a Hakim and decided to establish his own pharmacy and clinic, which he called Hamdard Dawakhana. Rooh Afza syrup was officially launched in 1907. In 1940, Abdul Majeed's youngest son Hakim Mohammed Saeed joined Hamdard Dawakhana. By 1947, Hamdard became a prominent manufacturer of herbal products and medicines in the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

. After the

independence of Pakistan The Pakistan Movement was a religiopolitical and social movement that emerged in the early 20th century as part of a campaign that advocated the creation of an Islamic state in parts of what was then British Raj. It was rooted in the two-nation th ...

in 1947, Saeed, at the age of 29, migrated to Pakistan on 9 January 1948. The following year, he established Hamdard Laboratories Pakistan in the old area of

Arambagh Arambagh also known as Arambag is a town and a municipality in Hooghly district in the state of West Bengal, India. It is the headquarters of Arambag subdivision, Arambagh subdivision. Geography Location Arambagh is located at . It has an ...

, Karachi on a modest scale. Saeed was able to make Hamdard profitable and the leading manufacturer of herbal medicines and products in Pakistan in six years – by 1953. In 1953, when Hamdard had become a big pharmaceutical company, Saeed declared it a

Waqf A (; , plural ), also called a (, plural or ), or ''mortmain'' property, is an Alienation (property law), inalienable charitable financial endowment, endowment under Sharia, Islamic law. It typically involves donating a building, plot ...

(a Muslim endowment entity). Hakim Saeed's daughter,

Sadia Rashid Sadia Rashid (born 1946) is a Pakistani educationist who is the current president of Hamdard Pakistan, chancellor of the Hamdard University and president of the Pakistan-Japan Cultural Association (PJCA). Early life She was born in 1946 in Sit ...

, chairperson of the company in 2016, reportedly said that her father had also opened up a branch of 'Hamdard Pakistan' in the former

East Pakistan East Pakistan was the eastern province of Pakistan between 1955 and 1971, restructured and renamed from the province of East Bengal and covering the territory of the modern country of Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Burma, wit ...

. After the independence of

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

in 1971, her father had given that

branch A branch, also called a ramus in botany, is a stem that grows off from another stem, or when structures like veins in leaves are divided into smaller veins. History and etymology In Old English, there are numerous words for branch, includ ...

to the people of Bangladesh.

Products

Hamdard Laboratories produces more than six hundred (600) Herbal Products. Hamdard has a full range of medicines for digestive disorders of stomach and intestine, abdominal cramps, hyper-acidity etc.,

anemia Anemia (also spelt anaemia in British English) is a blood disorder in which the blood has a reduced ability to carry oxygen. This can be due to a lower than normal number of red blood cells, a reduction in the amount of hemoglobin availabl ...

, jaundice, purification of blood from impurities, liver ailments, female ailments like leucorrhoea, menstrual irregularities and for protection of pregnancy. Products are also available for naturally strengthening the nervous system and mental health, heart and other vital organs. Hormonal and sexual insufficiency in men, general debility, mental and physical exhaustion, rheumatism and joints diseases, skin diseases,

common cold The common cold, or the cold, is a virus, viral infectious disease of the upper respiratory tract that primarily affects the Respiratory epithelium, respiratory mucosa of the human nose, nose, throat, Paranasal sinuses, sinuses, and larynx. ...

, and a wide range of other physical problems are addressed with Hamdard products. Khamira Abresham Hakim Arshad Wala is a unique herbal medicine from Hamdard Pakistan which is effective in strengthening vital organs like heart, brain, and liver. Its positive cardioprotective effect has been substantiated by various studies.

Most popular products

Rooh Afza Rooh Afza (; ; ; ) is a drink which is a concentrated Squash (drink), squash. It was formulated in 1906 in Old Delhi, India by Hakim Abdul Hameed and introduced by Hakim Hafiz Abdul Majeed.

(Soul Refresher) - a thirst-quencher and refreshing cold drink (Hamdard's flagship brand is Rooh Afza). It is an all-seasons drink rather than a summer drink. Rooh Afza alone generates about 33 per cent of Hamdard's revenues in the Indian market. It is a choice for millions of Pakistanis at 'Iftar' time (breaking of the day-long fast during the month of Ramadan) and it is exported to 33 countries of the world.Rooh Afza reigns supreme in Pakistan during Ramzan
Zee TV News website, Published 12 October 2007, Retrieved 23 July 2020 Abdul Majeed, CEO of 'Hamdard India' reportedly said about Rooh Afza, "When I started working and looked at Rooh Afza, I would come up with suggestions on what we could add to make it better. For six months, I went on harping about all these changes. My grandfather then called me and explained that a lot of time had been invested in the product and after many years, it had now stabilized. We now had a product that best suited peoples' needs...if it is working, why do you need to fix it?" The following medicines are available through 30 Hamdard clinics across Pakistan: * Safi * Carmina * Miswak Toothpaste * Isapghol Khas * Sualin * Naunehal Herbal Grip Water

Research and development

Hamdard Laboratories central structure is based in Karachi, consisting of fully automated pharmaceutical manufacturing and research units, manufacturing a wide spectrum of herbal products. Recently, a new industrial complex has been set up about 40 km from Karachi. Apart from Karachi, manufacturing units operate in other Pakistani cities. In Lahore a factory produces syrups and medicines. A factory at Peshawar makes syrups, extractive distillates, semi-solid and solid preparations.

References

External links