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Lashing out at the British Medical Association for terming their field witchcraft, homoeopaths say its efficacy is proven and 50 mn Indians can vouch for it

Pill-Popping: Queen Elizabeth along with the royal family uses homoeopathy for illnesses. Pic/AFP

Taking strong exception to yesterday's reports of the British Medical Association (BMA) calling their field witchcraft, city homoeopaths have, in turn, called the view ignorant and said that homoeopathy has helped seriously ill people regain their health.

Yesterday, BMA members trashed homoeopathy and called for a blanket ban on the practice of alternative medicine saying there was no scientific evidence to back it.

Numbers game
Records, however, show that 54,000 patients opt for homoeopathic treatment in England every year and the figure exceeds 50 million in India ” thereby lending credence to the treatment's efficacy.

Dr Mukesh Batra of Dr Batra's Positive Health Clinic, who opened a clinic on Harley Street in London two months ago, said, "We're in the heart of their city, not some far-flung suburb, and the numbers speak for themselves.

The Indian pharmaceutical industry grows at ten per cent annually while the homoeopathy industry grows at 25 per cent."

"Homeopathy has been around for 150 years and is recognised in 80 countries. A homoeopath needs to obtain a five-year degree so they're not all quacks. This criticism really stems from an irrational fear of something they have never experimented with, or benefited from," added Batra, who also has homoeopathy clinics in Muscat and the United Arab Emirates.

Research needed
Other doctors say that not enough effort has gone into clinically proving the benefits of homoeopathy.

Dr Rajesh Shah of LifeForce Homoeo-pathy says, "There are mentions of even the British royal family using homoeopathy. I admit that a grey area exists vis- -vis extensive knowledge of the field, but, until just two decades ago, we didn't know about aspirin's efficacy either."

Attribute the BMA's statement to pressure from allopathic or general medicine lobbies Dr Vinod Vaknalli, who has three homoeopathy clinics in the city, says, "There is so much propaganda to discredit homeopathy simply because practical experience shows that it is cheaper and as effective, if not more, than regular medication.

The BMA's view is a rather narrow one," he said.

Rs 26 bn, the projected size of the homeopathy market in the  country by the end of this  fiscal year

13,000, the number of homoeopaths joining the existing pool every year