Why homeopathy has a bright future in India? Observation by the Director National Institute of Immunohematology

Prof ( Dr ) Kanjaksha GhoshMBBS( Hons ), MD ( Med ), MNAMS ( Path ) , MRCPI, MRCP ( UK ) , FRCPath( Lond ) ,DNB ( Haematology ),FAMS ,FACP ( USA ), FNASc.
Director, National Institute of Immunohaematology (ICMR)
13 th Fl KEM Hospital, Parel, Mumbai -400012. 

You  may rightfully ask “Why should a person who has no official degree in homeopathy should speak about future of homeopathy in India”.  My humble answer to this question will be that due to providence of luck , good fortune and my official position as the Director of one of the leading Institutes of Indian Council of Medical Research.  I have a ring side view of epidemics, degenerative and malignant disorders spreading in this country and how  available medical system is not able to control it.  I am also a witness to rising resentment of patients due to lack of empathy and astronomical cost of management of various disorders through portals of modern medicine.

Bright future ahead

I was trained as a physician and hematologist with modern medicine but like many families in West Bengal I continued to study homeopathic medicines at home from my school days.  Hence my study of homeopathy is for far longer period than my study of modern medicine.  I have witnessed many astonishing cures with homeopathic medicines in my own life to convince me that this system of medicine has a bright future in our country.

Though Honingberger brought homeopathy to India, from the beginning of 20th century some of the giants in modern medicine embraced homeopathy.  The name of Dr.Mahendralal Sarkar immediately comes to my mind.  Subsequently many allopathic doctors have embraced homeopathy even at the risk of calling them “Mongrel”.  We should remember Hahnemann himself was an allopath before he discovered the secrets of homeopathy.  His disciples like Herring was also a leading allopathic practitioner  of his time.

You may also legitimately ask me why do I think homeopathy has a bright future  in India?

(i)  The common causes of death due to various diseases in India is still Diarrheal Disorders, upper respiratory infections, malaria  etc.  In all these diseases homeopathy records one of the highest number of cures.  We all remember what happened during cholera epidemic in London and the feat achieved by homeopathic physicians of that country with almost no death in their hands compared to 10-15 % deaths in allopathic hospitals.

(ii)  Some of the disorders like Bronchial Asthma, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Osteoarthritis, allergies have no permanent cure in modern medicine but good to excellent results may be obtained with homeopathic medicine cheaply.

(iii)  We are losing so many patients due to dengue, H1N1, Influenza etc.  As Herring has said in every epidemic a medicine may be found as “Genus Epidemicus”  which will cure majority of these patients during that epidemic.  We need a homeopath with keen eye and sharp understanding of the science for finding a homeopathic medicine for every  “Genus Epidemic us” .

(iv)  In early twentieth century a large number of homeopaths from Bengal proved several local herbs and trees for homeopathic medicine.  Dr.Sarat Chandra Ghose was a leading homeopath of his time who proved several local herbs into homeopathic medicine.  India has thousands of herbs, vegetables, insects which are different from the Western world.  These medicines are waiting to be proved for homeopathic usage.  We need many young homeopaths to come ahead and prove these medicines.

We must ask   ‘Is homeopathy and allopathic medicines are two parallel lines that should never meet? ‘ I don’t think so as advances in modern medicine is bringing into attention many unique actions of drugs where such action could not be explained by existing theories of pharmacology eg. action of various cytokines depends on the context in which the drug is acting!  Does this not resemble mechanism of action of homeopathic medicine?  I am sure these two apparently opposite views will meet. But we need many path breaking researches to achieve that. Please remember ‘Hypothesis of one century becomes the common sense of the next ‘.

A homeopathic physician should learn how allopath treat disease and vice versa.  We are healers and how to heal patients quickly and effectively should be in our minds.  A homeopath should be proud of his profession and should practice with keenness, knowledge and observations so that he/she can contribute towards understanding of this great art.