Tabiba Ummul Fazal passes away, great loss to the Unani medicine community

By: WE Staff | Monday, 30 August 2021

Tabiba Ummul Fazal (1934-2021), the former Deputy Director of the Central Council for Research in Unani Medicine (CCRUM), passed away on August 21 after a long battle with post-Covid problems.

She was a well-known and well-respected hakim who served as an inspiration and guide to many people. Tabiba Ummul Fazal, a dedicated student of Unani medicine, was absorbed in her pursuit of discovering Unani medicine and its usefulness until just a few months before her death.

Ummul Fazal was born in Mahboobnagar, Andhra Pradesh, as the fifth daughter of a religious and modest family of seven daughters. She was the only one of her siblings who had the opportunity to continue her education after high school.   Ummul Fazal enrolled in the Government Nizamia Tibbi College at Charminar, Hyderabad in 1951 for the four-year GCUM programme on her father's advise after graduating from Girls High School Husaini Alam.

Hakim Kabiruddin, Hakim Abdul Hameed of Hamdard Dawakhana, Delhi, Hakim M. Tayyab of Aligarh, Hakim Abdul Wahab Zahoori and Hakim Mohammed Shibli of Hyderabad, Hakim Shakeel Ahmed Shamsi of Lucknow, and Hakim Mazhar Subhan Usmani of Lucknow were among her close associates, many of whom were also her teachers.

Tabiba Ummul Fazal earned her Unani degree (Bachelor of Unani Medicine and Surgery) from Aligarh Muslim University and went on to carve out a career path in independent India that was rare for women in general and Muslim women in particular.

She was the head of the Gynaecology Department (Unani) at Hamdard Dawakhana from 1959 until 1970. She went on to work with the Central Council for Research in Indian Medicine and Homeopathy, which is part of India's Ministry of Health and Family Planning (1970).

She was one of the first women to be assigned to a position in the Central Government, despite the fact that women hakims had previously worked in universities and dispensaries. She later became the Deputy Director of the Central Council for Research in Unani Medicine (CCRUM), which is part of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and briefly served as its Director.

Ummul Fazal's study focused on a variety of disorders, including Vitiligo, Kasrat-e-Tams (Menorrhagia), Waja Mafasil (arthritis), and Chronic Dysentery, to name a few. She gave talks at national and international conferences and was asked to advise the governments of Iran and Kuwait on how to encourage research in Unani medicine in their respective nations.

In 1993, the WHO appointed Ummul Fazal as a consultant in the field of traditional medicine. She is the author and editor of several works on Unani medicine, including The Concept of Birth Control in Unani Medicine (1993), CCRUM, and A Handbook of Common Remedies in Unani System of Medicine (1978). (CCRUM). The latter has been widely read and has been translated into various Indian languages.

She was a humble and devout person who always placed others before herself. She leaves a research, hard work, dignity, and respect heritage. Her death is a big blow to the Unani medicine community.