Islamic Medicine History and Current Practice - International Society ...

Husain F. NAGAMIAISLAMIC MEDICINE HISTORY AND CURRENT PRACTICEtal he had pieces of meat hung in various quarters ofthe city and watched their putrefaction and advised theCaliph to site the hospital where the putrefaction wasthe slowest and the least ! At its inception it had 24physicians on staff including specialists categorized asPhysiologists, oculists, surgeons and bonesetters.When Djubair visited Baghdad in 580 AH/ 1184 ADhe recorded that this hospital was ‘like a great castle’with water supply from the Tigris and all appurtenancesof Royal Palaces.One of the largest hospitals ever built was theMansuri Hospital in Cairo it was completed in 1248by the orders of the Mameluke ruler of Egypt,Mansur Qalaun. It was most elaborate. It had a totalcapacity of 8000 people ! The annual income fromendowments alone was one million dirhams. Menand women were admitted to separate wards.Irrespective of race religion and creed or citizenship(as specifically stated in the Waqf documents)nobody was ever turned away. There was no limit tothe time the patient was treated as an inpatient ! (whata contrast from present HMO’s !) . There were separatewards for men and women and medicine, surgery,fevers and eye diseases had separate wards. Ithad its own pharmacy, library and lecture halls. It hada mosque for Muslim patients as well a chapel forChristian patients !The Waqf document specifically stated: ‘The hospitalshall keep all patients, men and women untilthey are completely recovered. All costs are to beborne by the hospital whether the people come fromafar or near, whether they are residents or foreigners,strong or weak, low or high, rich or poor, employedor unemployed, blind or signed, physically or mentallyill, learned or illiterate. There are no conditions ofconsideration and payment; none is objected to oreven indirectly hinted at for non-payment. The entireservice is through the magnificence of Allah, the generousone.’As to the physical conditions of these hospitalsespecially those established by princes, rulers andviziers it can be stated that some of these were luxuriousand were actual palaces that had been convertedto hospitals. Even contemporary Europe could notboast of a single hospital that came close to the facilitiesthat were provided in these institutions. Some ofthem especially in Baghdad, Egypt and Syria had furnishingswere similar to those in the palaces. Most ofthese being under the patronage of the viziers, sultansand caliphs were no doubt inspired by the Islamicteaching of the welfare of the poor and needy. TheQuran tells us: ‘You shall not attend to virtue unlessyou spend for the welfare of the poor from the choicestpart of your wealth’ (3,92) and again: ‘O you whobelieve spend (for the poor) from the worthiest part ofwhat you have earned and what your crop yields, anddo not give away from its unworthy parts- such thatyou yourselves will not take until you examine thequality minutely- and know that Allah is not in yourneed and all praise belongs to Him.’ (2,267).As to the salaries of Physicians here is some informationfrom authentic sources. The annual income ofJibrail ibn Bakitshu who was the Chief of Staff at aBaghdad hospital during the reign of MamunArRashid (d c.e 833/218 A.H.) as recorded by hisown secretary was 4.9 million dirhams. His son alsoa doctor lived in a house in Baghdad that was air-conditionedby ice in summer and heated by charcoal inwinter ! A resident by comparison who was supposedto be on duty for two days and two nights a week,was paid 300 dirhams a month. (Remind you ofDenton Cooley and his fellows ?).The great physicians of Islamic MedicineThe era of Islamic Medicine produced some veryfamous and notable physicians. These physicians werenot only responsible to get all the existing informationon Medicine of the time together but add to this knowledgeby their own astute observations, experimentationand skills. Many of them were skilled in medicalwriting and produced encyclopedic works whichbecame standard texts and reference works for centuries.With the coming of European Renaissance theyformed the basis on which the European authorsgained insight into the medicine of the ‘ancients’ orearly Greek authors whose works were only preservedin Arabic. In addition many re-discoveries took placewhich had already been recorded by the Islamic physiciansbut hitherto had been unknown until recentlyuncovered. The classical example of the discovery ofPulmonary circulation originally given to Servetuswas found to have been succintly described by Ibn24 JISHIM 2003, 2