A centuries-old salt mine in Pakistan is offering experimental asthma therapy, attracting patients from all over the world.
Khewra, billed as the world’s second-largest salt mine, has for centuries extracted the crucial mineral for export and has become a tourist attraction complete with a salt mosque and an electric train.
Now, the mine is cashing in on salt therapy, already a draw in the salt mines of eastern Europe and a synthetic clinic in Britain.
PHOTO: AFP
Clinics say asthma patients and sufferers of other respiratory illnesses benefit from inhaling antibacterial salt particles in a sterile environment, helping loosen mucus and clear the lung passages.
“We don’t use any medicine, because the asthmatic allergy patients recover through the air, so we provide them an environment in which their breathing can improve,” said Akhlaq Bukhari, head doctor at the Khewra clinic.
Although there have been few clinical studies, salt caves are seen by some as a therapeutic alternative to drugs and there are natural and synthetic salt caves springing up all over the world.
While other clinics offer treatment for bronchitis, cystic fibrosis and even ear infections, Shah said the Khewra clinic only treats patients whose asthma is triggered by allergies.
“I have come here all the way from Canada. I could not recover there through medicine, but I am feeling better since my arrival here,” said Naeem Shamsher, a civil engineer from Canada.
Shamsher had tried medicine doled out by doctors back home, but felt little relief and struggled to walk far without becoming breathless, so relatives in Pakistan suggested he visit the Khewra Mines.
“Now I can run and even play soccer just after spending three days in the mine,” said Shamsher, who added that he felt 60 percent better after the treatment.
The mine, located 160km south of Pakistan’s capital Islamabad, was discovered in 320BC by Alexander’s troops and first developed by British colonial rulers in 1872, mine officials said.
Located deep underground in the mine, the asthma clinic resembles an upmarket guesthouse, with 12 beds covered in white sheets and red blankets in six independent cabins separated with salt bricks and softly lit by lamps.
There is a reception area decorated with salt lamps and a lounge complete with a fountain, sofas and a television set.
The walls and roof of the clinic are made from pure salt and a fan helps maintain the temperature and humidity, creating the so-called “micro-climate” that offers patients relief, Shah said.
A 10-day course at the Khewra Mines salt therapy center costs 5,300 rupees (US$62), with 11 hours a day spent in the caves while nights are spent in a nearby hospital.
Since opening in 2007, the clinic has treated about 500 patients. Shah said 60 percent of patients experience some relief from their symptoms, adding that patients have come from as far as Britain and Saudi Arabia.
However, Shahid Abbas, a doctor who runs the private Allergy and Asthma Centre in Islamabad, said that although an asthma or allergy sufferer may get temporary relief, there is no quick-fix cure.
“There is no scientific proof that a person can permanently get rid of asthma by breathing in a salt mine or in a particular environment,” he said.
Khaled Sajjad Khokhar, managing director of the Pakistan Mineral Development Corp, a government body that owns the mine, said they would assess the success of the Khewra clinic before approving its expansion to 100 beds.
Some patients are returning, however, happy to get even temporary relief.
“This hospital is a blessing, it gave me a second life. I never had problems breathing after spending 10 days over there in 2007,” said Pakistani patient Adnan Khan, on his second visit to the clinic.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique