"You can fool all the people for some time, you can fool some people all the time but you can not fool all the people all the time", is an old saying. But Dr Hahnemann has been fooling all the people all along when he introduced his "Homeopathy concept" in 1796.
In fact, the idea is nothing new as it has already been mentioned in our Ayurveda: "Applying heat reduces heat." But this concept had been extended to ludicrous extremes and now we find one homeopath at every street corner doling out sugar pills for umpteen number of diseases promising a distant cure to the unsuspecting members of our society. Some Homepaths even advertise that they can cure every disease which can not be "cured" by Scientific Medicine.
If the patients get relief due to Homeopathy, it is not due to the sugar pills but because of the kind words and empathy the patient gets from the doctor. It has been time and again proved that Homeopathy is no better than placebo.
Dr. Christian F Samuel Hahneman who was born in 1755 was a regular medical practitioner. He proposed his theory of "Like cures Like" in late 18th century only because scientific medicine at that time was not so advanced and the existing chemotherapy at that time was causing "more harm than good", which is understandable. In fact he has the credit of naming Evidence Based Scientific Medicine as "Allopathy", which is a misnomer.
It all started when he had the symptoms of "malaria" on eating Cinchona bark and he started proposing that Cinchona can cure malaria. The basic principle of homeopathy is known as the "law of similars." This law is taken on his word and is an unproven assertion. It is not a true law of nature based on the scientific method. Homeopathic remedies are prepared by serial dilutions with shaking by forceful striking on anelastic body, which homeopaths term "succussion". Each dilution is assumed to increase the effectiveness of the remedy whic is called "potentization". This dilution continues till none of the original substance remains! After considering the patient's symptoms and signs, homeopathic reference books known as "repertories" are consulted and a remedy selected based on the totality of symptoms and signs.
Based on such totally unscientific principles, Dr Hahneman went on to write his "Materia Medica", which is now the basis for Homeopaths all over the world. Later on several double blind controlled trials were conducted and none of them proved that Homeopathy is better than placebo. In fact, WHO has warned that giving homeopathy in patients with curable diseases like Tuberculosis amounts to medical negligence and is criminal.
One grand theory proposed by Hahneman in 1803 was that Coffee was responsible for most of the diseases. When it was disproved, he had to abandon this theory and this Coffee Theory is a good example of his tendency to make up a grand theory from scant evidence.
It is strange that Homeopathy is still being practiced despite scientific evidence that it is no better than a placebo in treatment of any illness and absolutely useless in acute conditions especially requiring surgery.
Of late, there is a resurgence of Homeopathy and there are now Corporate Homeo hospitals catering to different sections of the society. I don't understand why Doctors practicing Evidence based Medicine do not see through the "Emperor's clothes" and protest against such blatantly unscientific practice.
My opinion is that Homeopathy is no different from Aroma therapy, Pyramid therapy, Crystal therapy etc, which have no scientific basis either. I feel our Governments should ban the false advertisements of the homeopaths and the publicity given to chains of homeo clinics.
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