The annual fish medicine administration to people with asthma will happen at the Nampally Exhibition Grounds on June 9 this year.
Bathini Harinath Goud and his family members, who administer the traditional family medicine every year, are resuming the exercise this year after a three-year break due to the Covid pandemic.
The Bathini family members called on Minister for Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Talasani Srinivas Yadav at the Secretariat today and discussed arrangements for the program.
Yadav directed the officials concerned to make elaborate arrangements to ensure the success of the program.
He said that as there had been a break for the last three years due to the pandemic, it was being estimated that people would turn up in large numbers this time for the medicine.
The minister said that arrangements should be made by the authorities in coordination with the Bathini family members, and that all the departments involved, including the municipal, water supply, transport, police, electricity and fisheries departments, should come up with an action plan for the smooth administration of the medicine at the venue.
The event is held at the Nampally Exhibition Grounds during Mrigasira Karthi in the first week of June ever year, which heralds the onset of the monsoon. Thousands of asthma patients from various parts of the country gather in the city to receive the medicine.
The asthmatics gulp down a live murrel fish with a yellow herbal paste in its mouth, which is believed to provide relief if taken for three consecutive years. For vegetarians, the family gives the medicine with jaggery.