The Unani system of medicine owes, as its name suggests, its origin to Greece. It was the Greek philosopher-physician Hippocrates (460 – 377 BC) who freed Medicine from the realm of superstition and magic, and gave it the status of Science and the Nizam of Hyderabad due to whose efforts Unani Medicine survived in the British period. An outstanding physician and scholar of Unani Medicine, Hakim Ajmal Khan (1868 – 1927) championed the cause of the Unani system in India. The Hindustani Dawakhana and the Ayurvedic and Unani Tibbia College in Delhi are the two living examples of his immense contribution to the multi pronged development of the two Indian systems of medicine – Unani Medicine and Ayurveda.
The Majeedi family of Delhi, especially Hakim Abdul Hameed (1908 – 1999) made valuable contribution towards modernization of Unani drug industry. Hakim Abdul Hameed also established in New Delhi an Institute of History of Medicine and Medical Research (IHMMR) that developed into a deemed university – the Jamia
Hamdard. Also, some other families such as the Niamathullah family of Madras
(now Chennai) and the Usmani family of Allahabad (Uttar Pradesh) played significant role in the advancement of Unani Medicine in the 20th Century