Dispensary in century-old building now revived

MUMBAI: A post-Independence era dispensary at

Madanpura

,

central Mumbai

, which was shut a decade ago as the century-old heritage building it was housed in became dilapidated, has got a new lease of life. And when it reopens on Thursday, the

Mukti Fauj Dawakhana

or Salvation Army Dispensary, which served the mostly poor population of

Madanpura-Agripada

area for decades, will have a new name:

Hakim Ajmal Khan

Dawakhana after the famous freedom fighter and pioneer of

Unani medicine

in India.


Once the residence of Bombay’s first Police Commissioner Sir Frank Souter, the two-storey, 631-sqm building was later given to BMC to run a dispensary as Souter’s successors found another residence. “After I became Madanpura’s corporator, locals drew my attention to the dilapidated heritage structure which once ran a dispensary so needed in the thickly populated area. I took it to the BMC which has spent Rs 2.5 crore to restore the heritage structure,” said Samajwadi Party group leader in BMC Rais Shaikh.

The entire structure has been recast and the wooden staircase and external and internal plasters replaced. Wooden beams, wrought iron grilles and wooden columns were restored. Though originally it served as a health centre where only allopathic treatment was provided, the refurbished structure has added a new wing of Unani medicine too.

“This is the third Unani health centre opened by BMC, and the first in 51 years. Unani medicines are expensive and this hospital will be a boon for the poor and maginalised in Madanpura,” said Unani doctor Syed Hussain Abbas Zaidi.

About getting the health centre renamed after Hakim Ajmal Khan, Shaikh said that Khan had deep association with the city as he was not just elected president of the Indian National Congress, he also associated with Mahatma Gandhi in the Khilafat Movement. “This hospital is a tribute to the services of a great freedom fighter who pioneered Unani medicine in modern India,” explained Shaikh.

Apart from being a renowned Unani medicine pharmacist who developed around 84 Unani herbal formulas, Hakim Ajmal Khan was also among the founders of Jamia Millia Islamia University in Delhi.

The Tibbiya College at Aligarh Muslim University was named after Hakim Ajmal Khan on his 100th birth anniversary in 1969 as part of a tribute to him for his services to AMU’s founder Sir Syed Ahmed Khan’s Aligarh Movement and to the world of Unani medicine.