Prof. Rashid Bhikha
Prof. Rashid Ahmed Hassen Bhikha founded the Ibn Sina Institute of Tibb. It was approved as a Public Benefit Organisation in 1997, as a means of health provision to all South Africans through the promotion, practice and training of Unani-Tibb. Prof. Bhikha is well known in the South African health sector. He was the first non-white pharmacist to manufacture pharmaceuticals locally; and went on to establish the largest independently owned pharmaceutical manufacturing company in South Africa at the time of its sale in 2005. Pro. Bhikha introduced Unani Medicine to Africa, but his expertise in terms of research and growth of the philosophy in english saw him become a global leader in the field of Unani medicine. Moreover, Prof. Bhikha is remembered as an ardent philanthropist and humanitarian who remained a champion for inclusivity. He lived his life committed to health improvement through treatment and education particularly with regards to provision of holistic medicine in disadvantaged areas.
He lived by example, in service to family, friends, colleagues and community. In turn, he was, and remains loved by young and old. To Prof. Bhikha, his greatest blessing was his family. From cousins, nieces and nephews who viewed him as advisor and friend; to his beloved wife, Mariam (1951-2024), and four surviving children; grandchildren and great-grandchildren, Prof, Bhikha is quoted to have said, “I am deeply grateful to the Almighty for my faith, my wife and my children.” When asked in an interview in 2018—where he was profiled amongst South African Indian icons—how he wanted to be remembered he was committed in his resolve that he wanted society to remember him as an ordinary person who tried to always be humble, sincere, just and empathetic.
To the community and to his family, he epitomized these characteristics in a legacy that will leave its mark.
Prof.Bhikha's Story of Tibb in South Africa - A Journey of Faith
In 1945, marking the end of the great war, a young boy was born in the leafy suburb of Pretoria, South Africa. As the world set about re-establishing itself into a new way of being, his birth country, a little colony at the tip of Africa set into motion the finale of formalizing the horrific laws of subjugation that would last until the end of the millennia.
It was under these conditions that the little boy dreamed of a better world, of being an asset to humanity and creating a life of worth. As the third son of Indian immigrants who had established a small clothing business on the dusty plains of the Highveld, he defied the odds and was given the opportunity to study Pharmacy at University.
As a young graduate with a new family in tow, he could easily have settled into the limited opportunities available to young black men at the time, but Rashid Bhikha, had never been one to walk the well-travelled road. He had a vision and he was determined to beat the odds. So it was, that almost thirty years after he was born, despite the perils of Apartheid and with little to his name, he set about to establish a small pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in Johannesburg.
Be-Tabs Pharmaceuticals
was established in 1974 and was the realisation of Rashid Bhikha’s dream to make a difference and defy the odds. Over the next thirty years, through great sacrifice, insurmountable determination, unwavering faith, hard work and a dose of good fortune, Be-Tabs grew from a small business to the largest privately owned manufacturing company in Africa.
Rashid Bhikha remained true to his vision though, seeking ways to provide the highest quality generic pharmaceuticals that were effective and affordable to all South Africans. As the landscape of South Africa moved from oppression to hope, he set up clinics and worked to aid government in the provision of healthcare.
A Different Approach
Then, in 1992 at the height of his career, when he was firmer than ever in his belief of modern medicine, his youngest daughter was diagnosed with Cystic Alveolitis; a fatal lung disease that causes hardening of the arteries and has a poor prognosis, particularly in children.
Rashid and his family spent many desperate hours in hospitals and specialists’ rooms searching for answers where none seemed to be found. As a man of medicine, with access to the best doctors, always asking, “What medication? Which active ingredient?” he was gutted when he was told to accept the inevitable….that nothing could be done.
Clinging on to his faith, Rashid and his wife prayed for a miracle. He set about to learn and find answers in treatments that he had often overlooked in the past, but now seemed to offer the wisdom of time. Over the course of two years, the family visited many herbal and complementary therapists, all of whom seemed to share commonalities of cause of illness, a holistic approach and an understanding of the body’s inner wisdom. As a man of science, Bhikha was intrigued. As his daughter responded to some of these therapies, he took to studying Ayuverda, Chinese Medicine and Homeopathy to gain insight into the workings of holistic health.
Whilst his young daughter steadily recovered using the Unani-Tibb herbal formulations, Rashid Bhikha found his true passion- a medical paradigm that encompassed the science of medicine with the art of care. He sought knowledge from Unani experts worldwide and found that this ancient form of medicine had been the mainstay on healing until the 19th century when it was replaced by the germ theory.
Though it was still widely practiced in the Asian sub-continent, Unani medicine had become muddled into conventional and other alternate therapies elsewhere in the world. Prof. Bhikha wanted to bring the true philosophy back to the teachings of its founders- Hippocrates, Galen and Ibn Sina and thus studied Unani-Tibb under Hakim Mohamed Said of Hamdard University in Pakistan, who was known at the time as the world’s leading authority on the modality.
Establishment of the Ibn Sina Institute of Tibb
In 1997, he established The Ibn Sina Institute of Tibb to the shores of his home country, with the aim of promoting the practice and training of Unani-Tibb in South Africa The Institute was, and still is supported by Hamdard University in Pakistan and India, as well as Aligarh University in India.
Hard work & Dedication
His commitment to Unani-Medicine saw Rashid Bhikha completing his doctorate in philosophy at the age of sixty, and earned him the title of Professor from Hamdard University, Pakistan. He sold Be-Tabs Pharmaceuticals to a renowned multinational in 2005, in order to focus on Tibb.
Tibb was, and remains, perfectly placed for providing health solutions in South Africa as it shares common ground with both African traditional medicine and conventional medicine. Branding the modality as Tibb, the Arabic word for medicine, he established the first treatment centre in Johannesburg in 1999 under the guidance of Hakim Abdul Haq who had joined him from Pakistan.
In August 2001, Unani-Tibb was officially recognised by the Allied Health Professions Council of South Africa as the eleventh modality in the complementary health sector and by 2003, it became the first English medium Unani- Tibb undergraduate and post-graduate programme to be offered outside Asia at the University of the Western Cape.
He was committed to community upliftment and health provision focusing on primary healthcare at the clinics he established, training of professionals, and research. Throughout his lifetime, he presented academic papers worldwide and authored numerous books.
Prof Bhikha’s commitment to healthcare and social development has earned many awards, including the 2009 Inyathelo Lifetime Philanthropy Award. In 2019 he received the legacy Pharmacist awarded to a pharmacist practicing or recently retired, whose efforts on behalf of the profession in South Africa in their career span of 45 years and more are judged to have been the most remarkable. Prof. Bhikha remained committed to the health sector until his passing in 2024. His contribution to the philosophy and practice of Tibb through articles, textbooks, research and practice have earned him the reputation as a leader in the field. His legacy will no doubt benefit the profession as a whole, and medicine in general for many generations to come.