New Delhi: A statutory body for homoeopathy
in India has strongly objected to a motion passed by members
of British Medical Association that termed the medicinal
system as witchcraft.
Reacting to the BMA's statement, the Delhi Board of
Homoeopathic System of Medicine said it was a "sinister design
to malign homoeopathy" and maintained that the system, though
not fully established by science, is definitely not
unscientific.
"Homoeopathy is scientific as it is based on certain
fixed principles which stand same as they were before," Dr A K
Gupta, member of the Board said in a statement.
Describing homoeopathy as "witchcraft", BMA, a body of
junior doctors in Britain early this week voted overwhelmingly
to seek a blanket ban on the practice of the alternative
medicine.
Gupta said the sceptics have kept ignoring that an
increasing number of scientific studies have indicated that
some kind of signature of the original substance is embedded
in a potentised ultradilution, used in homoeopathic system.
Attributing the refusal to acknowledge alternate
systems of medicines by allopaths to "their ego and feeling of
insecurity", Gupta said the campaign is likely masterminded by
big pharma companies which face a threat to their markets if
other systems of medicines gain strength.
He said in poor countries, with less access to expensive
drugs, homoeopathy was playing a major role in offering
cheaper treatments.
"In India, it is a full fledged medical system with
its own medical schools and hospitals. In Cuba, with a limited
health care system, homoeopathy is being used to prevent
Leptospirosis, an infectious disease also known as swamp
fever," the statement said.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, May 19, 2010, 20:00