Homeopaths' sweet success

[Guest guest]

timesofindia.indiatimes.com

 

Homeopaths' sweet success

 

Shobha John

[ Sunday, January 29, 2006

NEW DELHI: The times they are a-changin. Remember the

corner-shop homeopath with his strange-smelling vials

and assorted bottles of medicines? Well, he's got a

makeover. And how. The new homeopath is a globetrotter

and raking in the moolah, sometimes as much as Rs

30,000 a day.

 

IT/ITES, medical tourism, animation and now,

homeopathy India was never so shining, so global. And

experts predict that in the next 5-10 years, India

will also become the hub for clinical research in

homeopathy. As for China, it doesn't stand a chance

here, say experts.

 

For the new homeopath, the world is a stage. Diwan

Harish Chand, chairman, Central Council for Research

in Homeopathy, and former president of the

International Homeopathy Medical League, has travelled

to 70 countries; his patients come from as far and

wide as the US, Canada, Kenya, Singapore, Australia,

Germany, West Asia and Pakistan.

 

" India can be the Mecca of homeopathy with huge number

of practitioners estimated at 0.3 million, " he says.

 

 

Kolkata's Parimal Banerjee too is a visiting physician

for his 20,000 global patients. Of them, about 4,000

are from the US.

 

" Over Rs 1 lakh worth of medicines are sent abroad

from my lab every month, " he says. The demand is so

high that 25 doctors attend to health-related queries

on computers at his clinic.

 

The growing faith in homeopathy worldwide is evidenced

by a phone call that Delhi-based doctor Kalyan

Banerjee received from China. Last year, he was

invited by a 59-year-old terminally-ill cancer patient

to Beijing after surgery proved futile.

 

He's much better now, he says. " In fact, China hardly

has any homeopaths. India should seize the opportunity

and send more doctors there, " he says.

 

 

Banerjee has some 10,000-15,000 foreign patients and

has been to the US, Europe, Australia and the UK,

treating myriad ailments related to kidney, skin and

lungs. He also treats allergies and multiple

sclerosis.

 

Another homeopath talks about curing a 92-year-old

German of pneumonia after antibiotics failed to do the

trick. Banerjee sends medicines abroad for some 150

patients every month.

 

These tech-savvy homeopaths also do consultation on

phone and through the Net. One doctor's site asks

patients to attach a cheque along with the proforma

for consultation, medicines or shipping.

 

The rates are nominal. Some charge a flat consultation

rate of Rs 1,000 for SAARC countries and Rs 2,000 for

others. Meanwhile, teams from Russia, US, France and

Italy have evinced interest in clinical research,

especially for cancer and various viruses.

 

 

" Already 37 centres in India are carrying out

research. There's also interest in using homeopathy

for animals, " says Chand.

 

India also has the largest homeopathic infrastructure:

institutions as well as drug manufacturing centres.

And these can be effectively utilised globally, says,

R K Manchanda, deputy director, homeopathy, Delhi

government.

 

The Delhi government's free website delhihomeo.com is

also quite popular with patients abroad. " Queries come

from all over. We also get students from Nigeria, US,

Nepal and Sri Lanka, " he says .

 

The government, says Chand, should make it easier for

foreign students to study here and for our scientists

to train in research centres in Europe and US.

 

 

Plus, says Manchanda, homeopathic institutions should

gear up qualitatively to provide clinical research.

Sweet dreams are made of this, after all.

 

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