The GP’s Brain Is Missing

The big question here is not whether homeopathy works but whether it has enough of a scientific basis for it to be taught as a BSc degree course. I can’t really see the problem. We teach BA degree courses in media studies alongside traditional English literature. So why not homeopathy alongside medicine? 

"Says Ann Robinson: ‘Even the fiercest critics of homeopathy will agree that it does no harm – which is more than you can say about conventional pharmaceutical drugs.’

 

I completely disagree with this statement. I studied medicine in India, where homeopathy is a very popular form of alternative medicine and has university-affiliated colleges offering degree courses. Students who cannot get into medical school often take up studies in homeopathic medicine.

 

As an intern, I saw too many times the tragedies that homeopathic treatment led to. I can never forget a woman who was brought in on a stretcher to our surgical outpatient clinic. She was moments away from death and the most foul smell entered the room with her. When her relative lifted her sari, we could see one of her breasts had melted into a rotting mass, infested with maggots. The consultant, recognising yet another case of breast cancer left too long, said what had they been doing all this while, because this didn’t happen overnight. ‘She had a lump in her breast, and the homeopath treated it. He said it would get bigger, and then melt away, but with the melting she has become very ill.’ The surgeon told the family to take the woman back to the homeopath, that there was nothing we could do for her now.

 

Maybe these cases were extreme examples, but I think conventional medicine has more of an ability to recognise its limitations."