Hamdard Laboratories (Waqf) Bangladesh

Hamdard Laboratories (Waqf) Bangladesh is one of the largest herbal pharmaceutical companies in Bangladesh. It operates as a philanthropic waqf (endowment) in which all the company's profits go to a charitable foundation.

The company traces its origins to early 20th-century Old Delhi. Today, there are separate and independent companies bearing the Hamdard name in India and Pakistan. Their Rooh Afza is a popular drink, especially during Ramadan in South Asia. Hakim Md. Yousuf Harun Bhuiyan is the managing director and chief trustee.

Hakeem Hafiz Abdul Majeed was an Unani (herbal medicine) practitioner and pharmacist. In 1906, he established a small Unani clinic called Hamdard in Old Delhi. "Ham" means "friend" and "dard" means "pain" in Persian, so the company's name means "companion of pain". Majeed wished to transform the company into a waqf (Islamic charitable endowment). He died in 1922 before he could do so, however, and it was left to the next generation to implement his plan.

His widow, Rabia Begum, and their elder son, Hakim Abdul Hameed, took over the management of Hamdard. His younger son, Hakeem Mohammad Said, joined the management of the firm after completing his studies. After the partition of India, Hameed continued to run operations in India. In January 1948, Said migrated to Pakistan. There he built a parallel company, also called Hamdard. It established a presence in East Pakistan in 1953. Within a few years, the company had sales offices in Dacca and Chittagong. East Pakistan won independence as Bangladesh in 1971. Hamdard Pakistan's facilities there became the kernel of Hamdard Laboratories (Waqf) Bangladesh.

Hakim Md. Yousuf Harun Bhuiyan, who joined the company in 1972, became the managing director in 1982. In 1989, he established Hamdard Foundation Bangladesh. The company distributes all its profits through this charitable foundation.

The company began construction of a new factory in 2004 on nearly 33 acres (13 ha) in Meghna Ghat, Sonargaon Upazila, Narayanganj District. It was inaugurated in June 2005 by Minister of Health and Family Welfare Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain.

The foundation set up various institutions in the education and healthcare sectors. It founded Hamdard Unani Medical College and Hospital in Bogra District in 1990. It established Hakim Said Eastern Medical College & Hospital in 2008. In Lakshmipur District, it launched Rawshan Jahan Eastern Medical College and Hospital the same year.

In 2010, the foundation established Hamdard Public College. It set up Hamdard University Bangladesh on 29 November 2012. These five institutions teach students about Eastern medicine (Unani and Ayurvedic).