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In defence of homoeopathy

October 03, 2005

I was amazed at the wide publicity given to the report in The Lancet, which has made a damning attack on homoeopathy, saying it is no better than dummy drugs.

The report quotes a Swiss-UK review of 110 trials which found no convincing evidence the treatment worked any better than a placebo.

External link: 'Homoeopathy's clinical effects are placebo effects'

I feel the findings are of people who conducted the trials and did not achieve results. I think they were not fit enough to use this beautiful science or were not qualified enough or did not understand how to gauge the reactions of a patient. Perhaps their follow-up was considered in the parameters of allopathy.

Homeopaths abroad are not qualified or have not graduated as those in India. India is the only country where there are 200 institutions which are working according to government regulations which set up the curriculum as per the instructions of an elected body like the Central Council of Homoeopathy or the Central Council of Research in Homoeopathy.

We are the only country which has the in-depth infrastructure to rule this science. Our students study for five-and-a-half years before getting qualified. Homeopaths abroad are either those who have done six- month courses or weekend courses or those converted form allopathy.

There is a Supreme Court judgment which holds that those qualified in one science and practising another are 'quacks'. By that reckoning those damning homoeopathy are no better than quacks. Besides, abroad, homoeopaths are not allowed to treat all diseases.

So how did those who conducted the trials operate? These are questions that beg answers.

Some Indian practising homoeopaths are also to blame. They don't take pains to co-relate science with advances of modern science. Nobody takes pains to standardise science which is why this has happened. I would blame our Indians who go abroad and tell the world that there is no cure in homeopathy for pneumonia or rheumatoid arthritis.

I have lectured in Russia and Brazil, which is the next best country after India in homeopathy. The home country, Germany, alas, has allowed the science to become obsolete, just as India allowed the Sanskrit language to die.

I would like to ask a simple question to the detractors. Was the founder, Dr Samuel Hahneman, a fool to start homoeopathy?

Remember, he was a practising allopath who turned to homoeopathy becasue he found no cures in allopathy for relapsing ailments like coughs and colds, allergies, hypertension, asthma and thyroid. They were never curable but only controllable.

Dr Hahnneman went in search of a science which could eradicate these ailments. A science, which would be one step ahead of the one he was already practising.

For this reason I started Predictive Homoeopathy based on the theory of suppression, immunology, genetics, embryology, human bichemnistry and neuro-endocrinology.

I have had wonderful results in curing rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, alopecia, and psoriasis. My thrust now is on cancer and we are close to a breakthrough.

Dr Prafull Vijayakar is the President of the Indian Institute of Homoeopathic Physicians. He is also an honorary physician and professor Smt Chandaben Mohanbhai Patel Homoeopathic Medical College, Mumbai, and director Predictive Homeopathy Academy for Charities & Research).