I have just completed a lecture tour of major homeopathic institutions in India and have been blown away by the enthusiasm of teachers, homeopathic doctors and students. In Pune my lecture was supported by the orthodox medical faculty as well as the faculty of homeopathy and I chatted to a medical doctor trained in homeopathy in London (Dr Anil Habbu) who has treated an estimated 500 000 patients (sic) with homeopathy so far in his career. In Jaipur I lectured at a university exclusively dedicated to teaching homeopathy. I was taken on a tour of BJain Pharmaceutical plant and can verify that the standard of manufacture there is as good as any I have ever seen anywhere in the world.
With the West heavily in debt it is only a matter of time before the East (esp. China and India) become part of the new world order. Nothing can stop the proliferation of homeopathy in India and the relentless attacks of homeopathy’s denialists and detractors – whom I’ve dubbed the Disciples of Scientism – mean nothing in a country of over 1.2 billion people. Although the BBC and some of the British media favour their deterministic and often anti-democratic view of medical care, homeopathy continues to grow internationally. So far the views of the Disciples of Scientism (although given FAR too much space in the media) have not been able to trump democracy.
You can only get NHS homeopathy in the UK if you are referred to an NHS clinic by your GP. But that does not satisfy the Disciples of Scientism and today there is another inane poll in The Guardian on this very issue. Someone needs to tell these guys that once upon a time the British were considered to be good losers.
Hi Brian,
Thanks for your video! Good to see you out there having such a great time. That’s what I loved about being in places like India and Cuba – where homeopathy is totally accepted- it’s so energizing not having that background of denialism pressing in all the time.
Yes India can carry the torch until the rest of the world catches up. In Calcutta they always said “if you throw a stone you will hit a homeopath” and it’s true 🙂
Love it and loved hearing your account of your trip.
Safe trip back.
It was terrific to see such enthusiasm for homeopathy. Love to see the Cuban situation now.
So how would you feel about requiring that homeopathic medicines go through the same rigorous testing that BigPharma companies have to put their drugs through before they can be put on the market?
After all, if homeopathic medicines truly have effects than that will be shown in doubly-blinded randomized control trials done on cohorts properly selected to minimize differences to make sure you get rid of confounding factors, right?
That can only be good for homeopathy to hold it up to such rigorous standards.
Okay Cory, Check this meta-analysis study on SSRI anti-depressants out:http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pmed.0050045
Now I don’t call for these to be taken off the NHS; I accept the decisions of GPs to use these medicines at their discretion. And the NHS budget for these is 20x that for NHS
homeopathic medicines! My whole argument with the detractors of NHS homeopathy is that I trust GPs to refer or not to refer THEIR OWN patients for homeopathy and the detractors don’t. That’s why they whine for legislation to THWART the wishes of GPs in this regard. Bottom Line: I trust NHS GPs more than they do.
Really enjoyed this post, and glad to hear about Homeopathy in India being alive and well.
Delighted to hear that homeopathy is thriving in India and I’m sure you are right about the new world order. In spite of the best attempts of the sceptics and the ASA my homeopathic practice is thriving – long may it continue and thank you Brian for spreading the word so eloquently.
Dr. Kaplan: That’s a nice bit about antidepressants, but it doesn’t really answer my question. Do you support similarly rigorous research on homeopathy and a requirement to show repeatable, verifiable results based on sound methodology that does it’s best to reduce biases? Further, would you agree that if homeopathy does actually work then double-blind randomized control trials should show that?
Cory, I do support research in homeopathy – yes and much has been done. The interpretation of the research done is definitely controversial. Outcome studies definitely show huge patient satisfaction with homeopathy while RCTs are not as convincing but on the whole show homeopathy working over and above the placebo effect. Others may disagree with this but my main point has always been to call for a level playing field wrt to NHS homeopathy. Much of conventional medicine used on the NHS does not have the sort of evidence based the detractors of homeopathy call for in homeopathy as you see here. This is why I keep bringing up the antidepressant stats. If the detractors and denialists of homeopathy called for ONE STANDARD of evidence for an intervention to be included on the NHS that at least would be consistent. But no, they are happy for GPs to be ‘advised’ to be cautious with antidepressants but advocate that GPs be THWARTED (by calling for NHS homeopathy to be banned) from referring their own patients to other medical doctors using homeopathy on the NHS. This is what I find to be hypocritical and disingenuous.
Cory, your line of thinking is particularly an area of interest as far as I am concerned. Being a homeopathic “doctor” as it were in India, i am unhappy at the number of RCT’s we have in homeopathy. One needs to understand that the homeopathic pharma companies are miniscule in size when we compare them to the conventional medicine pharmaceuticals. Most of the RCT research in medicine is funded by pharma’s who have the potential of making huge profits from the new drug under study, if and when it gets marketed. Given that such profits are non existent in homeopathy, there is hardly any funding for a well constructed RCT in homeopathy. Personally i have seen several cases where the pathology that was treated successfully with homeopathy is such that chance improvement is unknown. Although these “anecdotal reports” would be Level 5 evidence, nevertheless given the bad prognosis of the case, makes one take notice. When one discusses medicine from a public health perspective, one should also consider it on the lines of cost benefit and risk benefit ratios for the particular treatment offered. Homeopathy scores very highly in both these yardsticks and hence is sought as a treatment option by huge numbers, at least in India.
Heart warming & very well said Dr Kaplan. Thank you for the moral boost.
Well done Brian. This is fantastic work and shows that homeopathy has a place in the modern world. Drugs have their place, homeopathy has its place. What’s the problem?
Keep up the good work!
Thanks Nick. You too are doing your bit. Homeopathy has endured worse in its 200 year history – but not much worse!
Great to hear/read your report, especially the fact that so many MD are open to homeopathy. In India there is mutual respect for each other as it used to be in the West, before we were manipulated by big companies.
If we could open eyes and ears here in the UK we could benefit all: the patients, the practitioners and last but not least the finances within healthcare systems.
Thank you for drumming the drums.