A poor man's orthopaedic centre in Andhra Pradesh

As one approaches the place on the Hyderabad-Warangal highway, the sounds are too familiar. It can scare a visitor at times as some will be screaming  and many writhing in pain. People outside the building would be taking out their children, trying to cajole and pacify those, terrified by the screams from inside. 

All of them are there with the hope and they would be all right very soon. It is the scene at the Capol Bone Hospital, about 70 km from Hyderabad. Capol is a household name in Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh and the poor get treated at an affordable cost.

Twelve year old Mahesh from Mahadevpur in Nalgonda district fell from a tree during play hours at the government school and broke his right arm. Father brought the boy in agony to the hospital,  just a few kilometres from his village.

The hospital was earlier located in a remote village Vartoor in Nalgonda distr­ict, run by a farmer turned medicine man Yampala Satti Reddy who had no formal medical education but a zeal to treat bone injuries, sprains and chronic joint pains of the villagers. It was during the time of Independence that the man mastered the art of joining broken bones with the help of a few herbs and three to four major concoctions for application on the surface of the broken bones.

“My father-in-law started this hospital and became famous as he cured thousands of people without even looking at an X-ray and inserting implants like all the orthopaedic surgeons did. The treatment was fully herbal and a strict diet to match with it,” said Dilip Reddy, who is now conti­­nuing the tradition along with Buchi Reddy, son of Sammi Reddy..

Sammi Reddy’s treatment was simple but at times painful to the patients. The broken bones were put in place using hands. “Locate the broken portion by the feel of your hand, set it, apply three herbal medicines on the skin and pack it with the help of wood, or packing material,” Buchi Reddy said remembering his father’s lessons. However, he refuses to disclose the contents of ingredients that his father used. “Jaggery is for one as it’s a good packing and binding material,” he added.

Mallayya, a resident of Karimnagar district, met with an accident and his radial bone in left hand was broken. The injury required an implant to hold the bones together till calcification started and the gap was filled. “But X-ray revealed that the herbal medicine did its job and now after a month and a half, I could see a hazy growth bridging the gap,” Mallayya said before second round of dressing at Capol, which includes a through massage and re-packing—all for just Rs 100.

On the flip side, the process looks a bit crude as no anaesthesia is used even while treating major injuries. Yadayya of Gopa­ram village, almost fainted as his broken bone on his shoulder was set right by the Capol bone setter. 

“But that is the magic, once the bone is set and packed one can happily go home and attend to most of the household chores unlike the allopathic treatment which bars you from moving around and forces you to take costly antibiotics,” Yadayya said after the painful ordeal. A few children who were scared with the cries of adults have to be cajoled by their wards with the help of sweets sold next to the bone-setting centre.

However, the patients are advised to avoid eating brinjal, deccan hemp, Bengal gram, green gram, tamarind, lemon, fish and chicken till the treatment is over. 

Patients bring empty bottles to take the herbal medicine sold at the centre believed to have curing qualities. “The medicine helps in faster healing of injured cells and bone. We advice patients to have a glass of  the liquid when they visit us and also carry it home,” a helper said. 

An old woman sits at the counter and charges Rs 2 for a glass full of the herbal medicine.Down the years, the Capol centre has changed. It has shifted to a bigger building with attached rooms for those who prefer to stay overnight or undergo regular herbal massage for their chronic problems. The centre has an X-ray machine, a medical shop and a canteen. The location of the centre is really good because there are no trauma centres on the highway linking Hyderabad to Warangal. “After the demise of my father we decided to use modern technology a bit as it satisfies a few, who demand proof for the cure,” Buchi Reddy said explaining the need for new additions to the old Capol.
“Imagine our plight some 50 years ago, when all those with broken bones used to go to Hyderabad for treatment. Satti Reddy gave us an alternative. No doubt recovery is a bit slow but it was cheap and available next door,” 70-year-old Sri Ramulu of Bhongir said. There is an interesting story behind the Capol hospital. It had no name to begin with. As it was near an automobile spare parts shop named Capol, people were mentioning it as a landmark. Later on, people started calling it Capol hospital.

A few fake Capol hospitals have sprung up on the high-way that mislead the patients, but the one with a lot many three-wheelers, limping elderly people, and cries of those getting their bones set into the right slot by the Reddy duo is the building one should be looking for.