Kerala government receives an online petition to stop homeopathic courses

Kerala government has recently received an online petition- change.org asking it to stop admission to various homeopathy courses offered in the state. This online petition has drawn attention to the matter of efficiency of homeopathy, which has been debated over many years. The social media platform twist drew more attention to the fact, after the petition was reportedly signed by 565 supporters.

Jithin Mohandas is the blogger who filed the online petition and he implied that the age old practice of homeopathy is not scientific and also ineffective. As a support to make his claim, he has cited studies conducted from across the world. Jithin urges the government to consider his petition and create further awareness about the facts using the social media platform.

The petition pleads the state government to not offer homeopathic courses and convert the existing education infrastructure to offer MBBS/MD courses. In other words, offer MBBS/MD courses at colleges by converting homeopathy colleges in to regular medical colleges. It also says that the homeopathy degree holders should be trained to practice allopathy.

Counter-view

Only after a few hours the online petition by Jithin Mohandas gathered steam, a counter petition also started; signed by over 900 supporters of homeopathy as a healthcare branch. It countered the fact implying that this is just a joint effort to discard homeopathy from the healthcare scenario. This online petition was started by Dr.Sreevals Menon of Global Homeopathy Foundation.

Even though there are number of people signing both petitions, it still does not warranty the authenticity of both the petitions. However, it does prove one fact that the homeopathy debate is gaining momentum in the state.

Expert views

• There has been a debate organsied by Mumbai Rationalist Association and Indian Secular Society, Dr C Viswanathan, an ortho-specialist. After having conducted many studies on homeopathy as a branch of science, he made a claim that it is completely unscientific and ineffective


• His analysis of the facts is based on some books of Samuel Hahnemann -the founder of homeopathic medicine - and incorporated into the BHAMS syllabus. “Hahnemann believed that symptoms are diseases. He did not believe in an internal, scientific reason for a disease,” Viswanathan says to the media


• According to him, Hahnemann harshly criticized pathological anatomy by bringing in a spiritual angle to the treatment. Hahnemann apparently propounded that God –the Preserver of mankind- would never shroud in mysterious obscurity the cure of a disease, by hiding it within the human anatomy. Vishwanathan reasons that Hahnemann hence considered all diseases to manifest as physical symptoms by rejecting their anatomical claims, which in itself was funny and unscientific. He also criticizes Hahnemann’s view that medicinal molecules are not necessary for homeopathic medicines, as he believed that there was virtual energy inherent in them per se


• There is another article by Dr Anand S Manjeri, an officer in the Central Government Medical Services for Asianet News, who agrees with Viswanathan on the matter. “The basis for homeopathy is the belief that diseases are not physical, but caused due to an imbalance in the spiritual force of a human organism,” Anand writes. “According to this treatment, the quantity of medicine is not an issue. They believe that the hidden energy of the medicine can be invoked through shaking and mixing. Here, the quantity doesn’t matter but efficacy lies in how many times you shake the bottle instead,” he quips


• Anand in addition implied that even religious beliefs are based on such theories and practices which make homeopathy a make-belief


• Dr Viswanathan and Dr Anand implied that several diseases are cured through self-immunity. In other cases like arthritis, there are more symptoms that are subject to variation with time and climate. Dr Anand also implied that personal faith also has a strong role to play in curing diseases, creating an effect of illusion; therefore, dismissing any scientific view on homeopathy