With a 100-bedded hospital attached to the Government Unani Medical College in Basaveshwarnagar all set to be opened in two months, the institution now looks forward to offering postgraduate courses in the traditional system of medicine. 

So far, the college could not start the PG courses as the State-run Unani hospital is located at Majestic, far away from the stipulated one-km radius, according to Dr Syed Anees Ahmed, professor and HoD of ENT at the college. He further said that the 30-year-old dream of starting PG courses was now closure to reality. 

At present, students have to study PG courses in Unani at the National Institute of Unani Medicine, an autonomous body under the Department of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (Ayush), the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The institute offers three-year PG courses in six streams and has only 30 students.

Free treatment

The new hospital will offer free treatment to patients. “We will have Dentistry, Gynaecology, Surgery, Opthalmology and Radiology departments,” Dr Ahmed said.

Modern Unani techniques will also be used. The hospital will have five registered clinical registrars specialising in Unani medicine, besides the 14 professors who currently teach at the college. “Allopathy doctors will also be roped in to attend to emergency cases,” he added. 

Dr Ahmed further said that while there were glitches during the counselling for Indian System of Medicine and Homoeopathy (ISM&H) courses after the Common Entrance Test (CET) last year, there have been no problems in completing the syllabus. 

During an 18-month phase, each subject requires over 200 sessions of teaching. “We sometimes have theory instead of practicals and conduct special classes. We are not way behind,” he added.