By Prashant Sood, IANS,
Haridwar (Uttarakhand) : As a sea of mostly Hindu pilgrims descended here for the Kumbh Mela, Azim Mir Khan was among the many doctors who attended to their aches, pains and ailments as part of a medical camp set by Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) alumni.
The camp organised by the Sir Syed Forum, as the group is called, at the Sati Kund temple in Kankhal near here coincided with Baisakhi and Mesh Sakranti – two of the most auspicious days for taking a bath in the Ganga during the Kumbh Mela.
As pilgrims had to walk long distances to reach the bathing ghats April 14-15, the doctors at the camp had their hands full.
“We attended to around 2,000 people in the two days,” said Azim Mir Khan. He said people came with problems like vomiting, stomach ailments, body aches, joint pains, dehydration and hypertension.
“We kept a good stock of emergency medicines and those relating to fungal infections. We also sourced some medicines locally,” Khan told IANS.
Apart from the medical camp at the Sati Kund temple, the forum organised two similar ones on the national highway leading to Haridwar. While one was held April 12-13 at Purkazi, 53 km from Haridwar, another was held March 15-16 (coinciding with the second royal bath) at Bhumanand Teerth Charitable Hospital, about seven kilometres from the holy city.
“The forum’s decision to take this small step of holding medical camps is in keeping with the views and teachings of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and his followers, who believed in joint participation in all social and religious functions to foster unity and harmony,” said Syed Hussain Waheed, convenor of the forum.
“We believe that it is the common people who pay the price of social and religious tensions and it is they who must take the initiative to strengthen national unity,” he said.
The devotees were all praise for the effort by the AMU alumni, saying the initiative would foster a sense of unity and brotherhood among the two communities.
Rajesh Singh, a resident of Jhijora near Jhansi, said he felt relieved after getting medicines for the pain in his hands and legs.
Jai Prakash Gupta from Kolkata who got some medicine for the blisters on his feet, said such camps were the need of the hour. “They increase love and respect between communities and foster the feeling of brotherhood,” Gupta said.
Swami Mahamandelshawar Harish Chandra Maharaj, a Hindu saint who was invited by the forum to the Sati Kund temple camp to distribute juice cans among devotees, also lauded the effort.
“Such camps create a feeling of unity,” he said and added that serving people does not need any religious sanction.