Amid tight security, thousands gather in Hyderabad ground - Know why

Hyderabad: Over 40,000 people from across the country had gathered at the Exhibition Ground in Nampally here to get a portion of a "miracle drug" which they believe holds the cure from their nagging Asthma problems.

The Bathini Goud family on Wednesday administered the fish prasadam to thousands of believers amid tight security and elaborate arrangements, the Times of India reported.

Asthma patients from various parts of the country were seen lining up for the prasadam from the wee hours of Wednesday, the report said.

"I heard it works wonders for asthma patients and I brought my brother along as he has been suffering a lot lately," it said quoting Manju V, a resident of East Godavari, who had come to receive the prasadam.

The Bathini Goud family has been distributing the medicine for 160 years. They claimed that the formula behind the medicine was given to one of their ancestors in 1845 by a saint after an oath was taken that it would be administered free of cost.

The drug consists of a yellow herbal paste, which is first stuffed into a live three-centimetre-long murrel fish that is then slipped into the throat of the patient. Vegetarians have the prasadam mixed with jaggery, the report added.