* Most visiting patients suffering from leprosy and scabies
KARACHI: The myth related to Manghopir’s hot spring continues to attract hundreds of people from far-flung areas even today as they flock and take bath for skin care.
“Over 100 men, women and children visit to take bath in the hot-spring to an average every day and the number rises on Sundays,” said 23-year-old Khan Mohammed Baloch, who mans the ticket section outside the gate where the hot spring is located a kilometer away from the main shrine of Manghopir.
The Manghopir shrine, also known for the crocodiles, can be reached after almost 45 minutes travel in the west of Karachi from city centre in Gadap Town.
“I am visiting this place for bath every two to three days with a hope to heal my problem of skin itching,” said 40-year-old Gul Khan, who hails from Swat valley.
He said though a skin specialist in Peshawar advised him medicines but due to continuous pain, he was asked by one of his relatives in Karachi to visit Manghopir and take bath in the hot spring.
“I don’t know about its affects but like others here I am also hopeful to get relief,” Gul Khan said while referring to other visitors there.
The visitors come here from far-flung areas of Balochistan, interior of Sindh and even Kashmir, said Khan Mohammed Baloch, whose ancestors remained guardian to this place. People are given mugs and clothing to take shower from the electrically pumped out water nowadays, he added.
All the visitors are charged Rs 15 each without any age restriction for 10-minute bath in the hot spring and the males and females are allowed turn-by-turn entry into specially built hall for the purpose.
Most of the visiting skin related patients are that of leprosy and scabies. “The hot-spring of Manghopir contains sulphur which works as anti-septic element in our medical world,” said Dr Mohammed Hashim, a senior medicine practitioner at Lyari General Hospital.
He said that many patients visited him and took advice but being a professional doctor he would not give any favourable advice to his patients with skin disease symptoms to visit Manghopir. “However, at the same time due to psychology of our society I cannot deny them (patients) their natural rights to visit Manghopir to get relief,” he added.
Dr Hashim said, “at least 20 percent visiting patients do complain of skin diseases and are mostly referred to specialists at the Skin Hospital in Saddar area”.
“We do give them medicines but again we cannot ask them to not to visit Manghopir due to its historical myth,” said Dr Manzoor Memon, a visiting consultant at Skin Hospital in Saddar area.
It may also be due to the costly medicines for skin diseases that poor and middle class people visit Manghopir spring, he added. app
0 comments:
Post a Comment