An epic conundrum

The whole world is inflicted with the dreadful COVID-19 pandemic. World over, people are locked down and even if they step out for a while, it is not without a mask and a sanitiser bottle in the pocket besides maintaining social and physical distance to safeguard themselves.

Neither the World Health Organisation nor any of the vaccine companies are in a position to spell out for certain as to when a curative or preventive medicine in the allopathy system could be made available. Then, can we explore the possibilities in other branches like homeopathy, which has been time tested, accepted, accessible and available?

Homeopathy is a system of medical practice that originated with the work of the German physician Dr Samuel Hahnemann who discovered that patients with certain diseases could be cured with substances that produce similar toxic effects. For instance, cholera could be cured with a dose of arsenic, red fever with a dose of belladonna, etc.

According to homeopathy, as in other systems, diseases are broadly divided into two types: acute and chronic. Acute diseases have three stages: prodromal, progress and decline. During the prodromal stage, the disease-causing agent, either bacteria or virus enters the body and reacts to produce some visible variations in the system. During the progress period, body symptoms become infectious and problems get aggravated. The patient becomes bedridden for days with the loss of sleep and appetite. They also suffer from headaches and body pains of different nature with sensations of burning, pricking, squeezing, cutting, tingling etc. In the final stage, the decline stage, the patient becomes slightly active, his appetite gets stimulated, starts getting sleep and body ache disappears. Otherwise, due to the highly infectious problem, the patient may succumb to death.

Diseases are either individual, sporadic, epidemic, endemic or pandemic depending on its spread population-wise and area wise. Coronavirus originated in Wuhan and spread to the rest of the world within a short period, killing thousands and affecting lakhs of people and hence it is pandemic. It is a respiratory virus which spreads primarily through droplets generated when an infected person coughs or sneezes or through droplets of saliva or discharge from the nose.

There are different systems of medicine available in the world like allopathy, homeopathy, Ayurveda, Unani, Naturopathy and Siddha etc. According to qualified homeopath practitioners and experts in this branch, for viral diseases, other than the homeopathic system, there is no other medical system which has medicine that counteracts the COVID-19 disease. As the virus is highly dynamic in nature, only a dynamic dose of medicine can control and cure the disease.

Vaccination has to be invented to cure the disease according to allopathy. But the entire homeopathic system as it is adheres to the principle of vaccination but in a safer mode. Homeopathy is dynamic and vaccination is a crude form in proving its usefulness. The main principle of vaccination is the proactive induction of a protective immune response by mimicking the natural interaction of an infectious pathogen like bacteria, viruses, etc. with the human immune system. It may have unforeseen side effects as well.

Allopathic medicines attempt to alleviate the symptoms of the disease by attacking and affecting the natural defence of body whereas homeopathy embraces the body's natural response system either by encouraging healing or attacking the root cause of the illness. Homeopathy in a way is considered as a better alternative when it comes to safe and sound treatment as it is devoid of any kind of side effects according to Dr Vallabhender Reddy, a former professor of homeopathy and a practising physician.

He says that homeopathic therapeutic law of cure is absolutely scientific and is justified by the process of observation, induction, deduction and experimental verification. Allopathic medicine does not feel the necessity of discovering a therapeutic law of cure. It makes use of any approach by adapting to whatever method is best used in the case in hand. Homeopathy adopts the method of dynamisation of drugs. This was discovered by Hahnemann, the founder of homeopathy.

In homeopathy common salt (Natrum Mur), red chilli (Capsicum), onion (Allium Cepa), zinger (Zingiber), metals like gold (Arum met), silver (Arg met), tin (Stanum met), copper (Cuprum met). Even snake poisons like cobra venom (Naja), rattlesnake venom (Crotales horridus), sarukuku snake venom (Lachesis), etc., are used. Even though all these medical materials used there is no material drug preventing in high potencies. Simple dilution causes only a minute rise in potency energy and it is left to successive taps to release the energy at each stage. They are however able to do this only up to a certain limit.

All the medicines in 'Homeo Materia Medica' are well proved and clinically verified on hundreds of people and then only they are included in the book. And all the medicines are proved at various potencies for the use in the various conditions of the patients said Dr Reddy. Dynamic drugs are available in decimal and centesimal potencies according to the susceptibility of the individual and the stage of the disease.

Dr Vallabhender Reddy has been practising homeopathic medicine since 1970 and has 50 years of experience in using homeo medicine in various epidemics like chikungunya, dengue, chicken-pox, swine flu, viral conjunctivitis, etc.

PM Narendra Modi, speaking on the need and benefits

of holistic healthcare and alternative medicine in India said that homeopathy is helping people move towards wellness. The Ministry of AYUSH has reiterated the use of homeopathy.

Against this background and when homeopath doctors are expressing the confidence that given a chance, they would be able to contain the Coronavirus with homeo preventive and curative medicine, why not they be given an opportunity to do so?

The writer is Chief Public Relations Officer to Chief Minister of Telangana. Views expressed are strictly personal