Hundreds of Asthma patients came to Katedan on the outskirts of the city hoping for miracle medicine. What they instead got was a major stampede. One person is reported to be dead and over 50 injured. Many collapsed unable to find any drinking water in the sweltering heat.

The venue for the annual “Fish Prasadam” mela organised by Hyderabad’s Bathini family  was shifted to a new venue from the earlier used Exhibition Grounds in Nampally. Patients from allover the country come here every year to gulp a “murrel” fish with herbal paste in it.

The Bathini family claims to be administering the medicine for 153 years. However this year, the family or the authorities could not be bothered to make simple arrangements like construction of proper barricades, provision of drinking water etc. Despite a strong campaign in the past few years by Rationalists to debunk the Fish Medicine as a cure to asthma, people have been flocking in large numbers to receive the miracle cure.