GOING THROUGH THE OLD FILES

[Guest guest]

I was going through the old files to find my article on Education and found, inter alia, the following

reply to our friend Prof. Shiva Shankar, teaching in Chennai, as a MATHS teacher. He

however does not know what his students think of MATHS -- Mentally Affected Teachers

Harassing Students. But let us not poke fun at Shiva, as he remains a conscientious

worker, though slightly tilted like a Leaning Tower of Pisa towards Buddhism and venomously

against Brahminism. But my three-year old letter that follows deals with the Alternative

Medicine. Alt. Medicine was not started then and I had not heard of our good

friend Jaggu dada in 2003. Hence, this my candid letter being released for the benefits of Alt Health Group members.

 

Cheers

Dr. Leo Rebello

 

 

 

- Dr. Leo Rebello

Afternoon ; Bombay Times ; Free Press Journal ; Mumbai Newsline ; The Pioneer ; The Hindu ; Hindustan Times-Delhi ; The Statesman

Cc: Asian Age

Saturday, May 17, 2003 7:57 PM

REIKI, ACUPUNCTURE FAIL TO GET NOD --- DR. LEO REBELLO'S COMMENTS ON

 

Dear Shiva :I know, I ain't one, because Naturopathy is already recognised and most things rejected for registration can be included in one or more than one already recognised systems of medicines, whether government panel agrees or not and hence the colleges running these courses need not fold up as P. Sunderarajan says. There are some lacunae in the expert panel's decision:-

 

1.. How can swollen headed "double blind" buffoons of Indian Council of Medicine and Research (qualified as Allopaths and knowing precious little about Alternative Medicine) sit on judgment on the claims or efficacy of Alternative Medicines listed below? Who were the "experts" on the panel? Who appointed them? What was the criteria involved in selecting them?

 

2.. Acupuncture is an established science, centuries old, and practiced in many countries with formal courses, some of which are older than Allopathic curricula. It is more complete science than Allopathy, which is a bogus science. It is a tragedy that Acupuncture is not given recognition.

 

3.. Auto-Urine Therapy means drinking, applying one's own urine. Urine is a bye-product and not a waste product. If self-blood can be preserved and later taken if need be why cannot self-urine be used? The efficacy of one's own urine or Cow's urine is discussed in Vedas as also in other religious texts. Do you need Govt. permission or doctor’s prescription to eat your food, vegetables, fruits, or even to drink Beer, Pepsi or Coke? Then, why do you need Govt. license to drink your own urine, which tastes like coconut water, if you take purificatory fast for three days and then go on AUT? And why should there be courses in it? At best, it is a self-learning process.

 

4.. Reiki is tapping into the vast energy field and improving one's own in-built healing fields. It is part of drugless healing or naturopathy. Do you need Health Minister's permission to bask under the Sun? Isn't Surya Namaskar part of Yoga?

 

5.. I am NOT much convinced about Gems/precious stones and their effect, beneficial or otherwise, on human body. Like Astrology, Gem therapy may be dubious. But then ask Sushma Swaraj, the Health Minister or other ministers, as to why they consult tantriks, why they wear gems on practically every finger or wear malas to ward off evil?

6.. And finally, if a BDS (a bachelor in dentistry - at best a technician) or MBBS (a bachelor in medicine and surgery, no better than an experienced compounder, who does not know anything beyond a few antibiotics, steroids, germs and viruses and who without expensive tests does not know the difference between flu, malaria, typhoid or pneumonia) can be called a doctor, why cannot a properly trained person in Acupuncture, be called a doctor? Reiki masters do not call themselves doctors anyway. And Electro-Homoeopathy can be part of Homoeopathy.

 

7.. As long as one uses a non-invasive technique or does not prescribe lethal drugs which are harmful to the very life, no license to practice as a doctor is needed. But the most important point is, those who have licenses kill more people than all the Alternative Medicine practitioners put together. Q.E.D.

Dr. Leo RebelloDirector, Natural Health Centre, BombayWebsite : www.healthwisdom.net / www.aidsalternativa.org

 

 

 

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Prof. Shiva ShankarDr.Leo RebelloSaturday, May 17, 2003 9:38 AMHEY DOC ! U AIN'T ONE. (fwd)HEY DOC ! U AIN'T ONE.-----------Reiki, acupuncture fail to get official nodBy P.Sunderarajan

 

NEW DELHI May 16. There is some disappointing news for the practitioners of alternative systems of medicine like reiki, acupuncture, magnetotherapy, pranic healing, hypnotherapy, colour therapy, aroma therapy, music therapy, reflexology, gems and stone therapy, electropathy, electro-homeopathy, urine therapy and auto-urine therapy.

 

The Centre has formally rejected pleas to include them also under the official list of indigenous systems of medicine.

 

The list now covers ayurveda, siddha, unani, homeopathy, yoga and naturopathy and there is a separate department under the Union Health Ministry that seeks to protect and nurture them.

The rejection comes in the wake of a case filed in the Delhi High Court in 1998. On a direction given by the Court, the Centre had set up a high-level committee of experts headed by the Director General of Indian Council of Medical Research to examine the merits of various streams of alternative medicines.

 

While the case pertained specifically to electropathy and electro-homeopathy, the panel had looked into other systems also and come to the conclusion that no system other than those which were already recognised could be approved on the ground that they did not satisfy even some of the basic requirements.

 

The panel's conclusion has now got the seal of official endorsement, with the Union Health Minister, Sushma Swaraj, giving her approval. For the review, the panel had set out a list of five essential criteria: the system should have its own fundamental principles of health and disease, with a comprehensive system of health care and not restricted to a few diseases only; it should have substantial literature on concepts, aetiology, diagnosis and management of diseases like textbooks, including pharmacopoeia and formularies; it should be recognised in the country of its origin or in any other country, where it was currently practised; it should have documented information on the uniqueness of modalities of treatment may it be drug, devices or any other method such as diet, massage, and exercise; and it should have standardised methods of preparation of drugs/ devices, with clear-cut quality control procedures.

 

An outcome of the decision is that institutions which presently offer bachelors and master's degree courses in these systems would have to fold up and those who practise them cannot use the term 'doctor' as a prefix to their name.