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News
Homeopathy gaining in popularity across India
Tuesday May 10 2005 17:45 IST
IANS
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NEW DELHI: As homeopathy supporters marked the 250th birth anniversary of its founder Samuel Hahnemann, they had plenty to cheer about - from innovative treatments for skin diseases to cancer cures, the 'similar, simple, minimum' medicine has advanced by leaps.
"The system of homeopathy, I feel, may be even more popular than Ayurveda in India," S.P. Singh, advisor (homeopathy) with the health ministry's Department of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoepathy, told IANS.
Born out of a freak brush with malaria in Germany about two centuries ago, this branch of medicine, principled around "fighting like with like", has some 15,000 medical options today, its global drugs sales amounting to almost $2 million.
Brought to India in 1810 by John Martin Honigberger, a disciple of Hahnemann, homeopathy was bolstered in 1836 after curing the ruler of Punjab, Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
It became widely accepted in 1861 during Bengal's malaria epidemic. Today, homeopathy - practised in 80 countries - has over 200,000 practitioners, 180 graduation colleges and 30 post-graduation colleges specialising in India.
No small feat for a branch of medicine in a country where a Homeopathy Central Council Act for regularising the practice was framed only in 1973.
Today the country manufactures its own homeopathy drugs and homeopathy has become one of the fastest growing fields of complementary medicine, thanks mainly to its effectiveness in curing chronic diseases such as asthma, allergies, migraines, ulcers, arthritis and even cancer.
There are multi-specialty hospitals such as Dr. Batra's Positive Health Clinic Pvt Ltd (DBPHC) - a 24-hour super-speciality clinic chain spread across 15 cities in India, Mauritius and Britain that claims to be India's largest chain of homeopathic clinics.
With over 100 doctors, their online division entered the Limca Book of Records in 2004 for seeing over 450,000 customers every month.
Other large hospices such as Escorts Heart Institute and Research Centre have started integrating homeopathic medicines to increase the effectiveness of mainstream medicines.
"Homeopathy is holistic, gentle and there are no staunch dietary restrictions except for a general preference in avoiding processed food such as aerated drinks, fried and fast food," said Kalyan Banerjee, research director of Mihijam Institute of Homeopathy, who was recently invited to China to cure a pancreatic cancer patient.
Homeopathy also has a treatment for cancer, which is not erosive like chemotherapy, "but most of the cases we get are in their late stages. Still, we manage a cure rate of 15 to 20 percent," said Banerjee, who is also the governing body member of the Central Council for Research in Homeopathy.
The cancer drug, he said, was developed by Parimal Banerji, a doctor with the Mihijam institute, almost 50 years ago.
"A cancer patient's daughter had heard about me and invited me to China, where there is no homeopathy yet. The patient is now slowly recovering. He has even started going to office," Banerjee said.
What is the reason for the immense popularity of homeopathy?
"Even if it doesn't help, it doesn't harm," said Bikram Roy, a businessman, who shifted to homeopathy after allopathic painkillers for back pain started turning his hair red.
Homeopathic medicines are manufactured from the 'potentisation' or 'evoking the hidden curative properties' of six sources: herbs, chemicals, organisms like viruses and bacteria, hormones, animal products and miscellaneous.
They are encrusted around small, white saccharine globules that act as a vehicular medium for the drug into the body, since they are medically inert.
According to Rajiv Shah, a doctor who has practised homeopathy for over 20 years, there are over 3,000 varieties of homeopathic medicines, with five different potencies each - giving the doctor as much as 15,000 medical options.
"Homeopathy is popular because it is safe, devoid of side effects and works like magic for chronic diseases. Ayurveda may be more popular in rural areas, but in urban areas, people are increasingly turning towards homeopathy," said Shah, who is the director of the Homeopathy India Foundation that works towards its promotion, research and training.
"In the last three years alone, homeopathy practice in India has increased two-fold."
In his clinic, Shah has introduced an innovative treatment for skin ailments that exposes the patient to a combination of ultra-violet A and B and blue light along with homeopathy tablets.
Said Nisha Gupta, a clinical pharmacologist with Maulana Azad Medical College: "Every system, if used appropriately, has its own values. Similarly, homeopathy works in a different way, has its own principles and advantages for certain diseases."
Rajni Dasgupta, a schoolteacher, who has been using homeopathy from childhood, said: "It is especially useful for my children and aged people because antibiotics give a lot of side effects. Homeopathy is easier to take, tastier, and basically hassle-free."
However, she warns: "Of late there are so many quacks and self-taught doctors that one must be careful to whom one goes." |
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