another alternate system reacting to misinterpretation.

September 12, 2005

Dear Friends,

Some of you may have heard about the recent report in Lancet which tried to

malign homeopathy. When the Indian newspapers published the report, the Ministry

of Health responded in a fashion very similiar to how Dr Bhate has tried to

distinguish ayurveda from other systems in his latest post.

The response is reproduced below.

Regards,

Jagannath.

HUGE CONSPIRACY.

The comments on the study on homoeopathy reported in Lancet (Effect only in

mind, September 5) is a conspiracy to malign the subject. The authors have

reported that they analysed 110 trials each from homoeopathy and conventional

medicine. But actually they discarded a majority of them on the excuse that

their methodology was flawed. The conclusion was drawn after comparing the

outcomes of only eight homoeopathy and six allopathy trials. Homoeopathy treats

the patient, but not the disease. It targets each patient individually on the

basis of the variations of their complaints and physical or mental

characteristics. Not only the selection of medicine, but also its potency, dose

and repetition are tailored to each individual patient’s needs. Holistic and

individualistic approach being the hallmark of homoeopathy, a particular

medicine may be needed for a number of diseases, whereas a group of patients

suffering from the same disease may require different medicines. Therefore, the

randomised placebo-controlled trials chosen by the researchers do not follow

the tenets of homoeopathy, even though these are the suitable modalities for

research in allopathy, in which a single drug is usually tested in a particular

disease. Why have the researchers adopted such an inappropriate tool to judge

the efficacy of homoeopathy? Homoeopathy and allopathy trials evaluated by the

researchers must have been done under different circumstances, such as different

teams of experts, objectives, set-ups, techniques, methodologies, outcome

assessments, methods of selecting medicines and dosages etc. Without such

variations in the experimental procedures, is it rational to compare their

efficacy? Homoeopathy is being criticised without any rhyme and reason.

Prof. Chaturbhuj Nayak Director

Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare

New Delhi

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