Joining rationalists and scientists opposing the practice, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has decided to issue legal notices to the state government and also file a contempt petition over the government's failure to test the medicine.

The move might deal another blow to the administration of "miracle medicine" in its 160th year on June 8. The Bathina Goud family of the city distributes the medicine to thousands of asthma patients from all over the country and even abroad on the first day of Mrugasira Karti, which, according to the Hindu calendar, heralds the onset of the monsoon. A yellow herbal paste is inserted in the mouth of a three-centimetre-long murrel fish, which is then slipped down the patient's throat.

The Goud family has kept the formula of the medicine a closely guarded secret lest it lose its efficacy. The family claims that in 1845 a holy man passed on the formula of miracle medicine to their great-great-grandfather Veranna Goud, a toddy tapper, on the promise that he would distribute it free of cost and that he would never reveal the formula.

The fish is believed to clear phlegm while passing through the patient's oesophagus, and this provides much-needed relief to someone whose bronchial pipes are blocked from asthma. The Goud family says the medicine can cure asthma if taken for three consecutive years.

However, rationalists, scientists and physicians strongly dispute this claim. This year, the IMA has stepped up its campaign by asking doctor-turned-politician Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy to put an end to the "unethical" practice.

"Laboratory tests of the medicine show that it has steroids, heavy metals, mercury and other ingredients which could be harmful to patients," said C. L. Venkat Rao, honorary secretary of the IMA's Charminar chapter.

"The presence of these steroids and heavy metals can harm kidneys, cause impotency and intestinal and bone marrow damage, apart from many other diseases," he said.

According to Rao, legal notices will be issued to various government departments for wasting Rs.100 million of public money every year on making arrangements for the event.

IMA also plans to file contempt of court petition against the state government for ignoring a Andhra Pradesh High Court directive to conduct an inquiry into the fish medicine and submit a report within six months, Rao added.

The IMA had filed a writ petition in the high court last year challenging the efficacy of the fish medicine and objecting to the state government spending taxpayers' money to make arrangements for those coming to the city to avail the medicine.

The Goud family is unruffled over the controversy.

"Such doubts were raised even in the past but people believe in our medicine and that is why lakhs (millions) of patients take it every year," said Bathina Harinath Goud, the eldest of the Goud brothers.

He ruled out the possibility of their revealing the ingredients of herbal paste.