Hamdard (Wakf) Laboratories
Encyclopedia
Hamdard Laboratories, India is an Unani
Unani
Unani-tibb or Unani Medicine also spelled Yunani Medicine means "Greek Medicine", and is a form of traditional medicine widely practiced in South Asia...

 and Ayurvedic
Ayurveda
Ayurveda or ayurvedic medicine is a system of traditional medicine native to India and a form of alternative medicine. In Sanskrit, words , meaning "longevity", and , meaning "knowledge" or "science". The earliest literature on Indian medical practice appeared during the Vedic period in India,...

 pharmaceutical company in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 & Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

. It is the world's largest manufacturer of Unani medicines. It was established in 1906 by Hakeem Hafiz Abdul Majeed in Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...

, and became a waqf
Waqf
A waqf also spelled wakf formally known as wakf-alal-aulad is an inalienable religious endowment in Islamic law, typically denoting a building or plot of land for Muslim religious or charitable purposes. The donated assets are held by a charitable trust...

 (non-profitable trust) in 1948. Some of its most famous products include Safi
Safi (medicine)
Safi is an Unani medicine which claims to be a blood-purifier. It is produced by Hamdard Laboratories in Pakistan, as well as by Hamdard Laboratories in Ghaziabad, India...

, Sharbat Rooh Afza
Rooh Afza
Rooh Afza is a concentrated drink. It was formulated by Hakeem Hafiz Abdul Majeed and manufactured by the companies founded by him and his sons, Hamdard Laboratories, India since 1906 and Hamdard Laboratories, Pakistan, since 1948...

, Cinkara, Roghan Badam Shirin and Pachnol. It is associated with Hamdard Foundation, India, a charitable educational trust, through which it reinvests its profits into charitable activities.

History

Hamdard Laboratories was founded in 1906 in Delhi by Hakeem Hafiz Abdul Majeed, a well-known Unani practitioner of his time. The name Hamdard means "empathizer" or "companion in suffering" in Urdu
Urdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...

 language. After his death, his son, Hakeem Abdul Hameed took over the administration of Hamdard Laboratories at the age of fourteen. Abdul Hameed became famous as "Hakeem Sahab" and the company grew both nationally and internationally under his leadership.

Charitable activities

Hamdard Foundation was created in 1964 to disburse the profits of the company to promote the interests of the society. All the profits of the company go to the foundation. Both the company and the foundation have played a major role in reviving and popularizing Unani medicine in India. The company funds a significant part of the Jamia Hamdard University
Jamia Hamdard
Jamia Hamdard is a university located in New Delhi, India. It was established in 1989.Our Revered Founder Janab Hakeem Abdul Hameed Saheb, a true Gandhian in spirit and simplicity was born in Delhi on September 14, 1908. No account of Hakeem Saheb can be complete without the mention of his...

 in Delhi. The Majeedia Hospital in the university complex is also funded by the company.

Research and development

Hamdard Laboratories has a twin manufacturing plant in Ghaziabad at the site of Hakim Abdul Majeed's original clinic. The company has introduced modern methods of standardization
Standardization
Standardization is the process of developing and implementing technical standards.The goals of standardization can be to help with independence of single suppliers , compatibility, interoperability, safety, repeatability, or quality....

 and quality control
herbal preparations.

Controversies

In March 2005, Health Canada reported that Safi was:
"found to contain arsenic levels in excess of 40 times the maximum allowable concentration for drugs."

This was the second article to claim Safi has elevated levels of heavy metals. In December 2004, the Journal of the American Medical Association reported a study conducted on Ayurvedic products sold in the Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

, MA area. The study had found that of the 70 Ayurvedic medicines tested, 14 (20%) had enough heavy metals (Mercury, Lead and/or Arsenic) as to result in heavy metal intakes above published regulatory standards if taken as recommended by the manufacturers.

Further reading

  • Unani medicine with reference to Hamdard of Pakistan and India, by Subhuti Dharmananda, Institute for Traditional Medicine and Preventive Health Care. 2004
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