Being a physician and a skeptic dealing with hundreds of Diabetic patients every week, I was intrigued by this report that appeared in the Times of India, Hyderabad edition on August 31, 2018.
Has a team of researchers found evidence for divine power of Hindu holy book Bhagavad Gita , that too in a multi centre, multi country study ? This sounded very interesting.
Though it is a well-known fact that homeopathy is useless and equal to placebo, a large amount of scarce public resources are wasted on it by many governments all over the world. Now one such wastage will be stopped soon. The National Health Service in United Kingdom is proposing a ban on providing homeopathy medicines.
The NHS has announced a ban on homeopathy and herbal medicine as they say it is “misuse of scarce funds”.
Officials today ruled that the treatments are among dozens of medicines which should not be funded by the health service.
In the last five years, the NHS has spent almost £600,000 on homeopathic treatment, despite long running debate about whether alternative remedies work.
Today NHS England ruled that “at best homeopathy is a placebo and a misuse of scarce NHS funds which could be better devoted to treatments that work.”
Great news for patients coming to the out-patient departments of hospitals in Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. Along with services of doctors they will also get advice regarding correct diagnosis from top astrologers by paying a small sum of five rupees. Budding astrologists will also get training under seniors in diagnosing patients problems using horoscopes.
Ever since Modi became Prime Minister of India, Yoga guru Baba Ramdev’s business has expanded by manifold. Not only his spiritual Yoga business but also his “chemical free” consumer goods business.
Baba who had claimed his “genuine” Ayurvedic medical products and yoga can cure AIDS and Homosexuality has now become the leading player in whole range of products for home use. It seems the tremendous support Modi got from Baba Ramdev for catching votes is being reciprocated by giving huge chunks of land at big discounts as per this Reuters report.
First Test tube baby was in India 7500 years ago !
This is not just another claim by a ruling Hindutva BJP leader in India. Shockingly this was given as a fact in school text books in Karnataka state of India !!!
Image credit – The Telegraph
Doctor, can I use the new Ayurvedic medicine for Diabetes ?
A patient was asking me.
Which one ?
The one lauded by our Prime minster .
Oh , you mean BGR 34 ?
Yes.
Then better not.
Anticipating such questions, I had studied the molecule using resources at my disposal.
It is a mixture of four herbs. Individually these herbs had undergone small lab and clinical studies with mixed results. In February the Indian government’s Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has come out with a mixture of these four herbs in a single tablet amidst great fanfare with backing of just one unpublished study on 48 patients.
Diphtheria is coming back with vengeance in parts of Asia where it had been well controlled. Malaysia and Vietnam has reported several cases of Diphtheria in last two months along with Kerala state in south India. There has been 5 deaths in Malaysia, 3 in Vietnam and 2 in Kerala. Both in Kerala and Malaysia, adults some as old as 65, are among suspected cases.
All three areas had similarly good control of Diphtheria for several years now , with only a handful of cases yearly and no deaths. In Malaysia and Kerala, religion based superstitions about vaccinations was found to be a major driving factor for poor vaccination coverage and there by reemergence of the disease. In Vietnam too, the propagation of myths about vaccines has reduced its acceptance.
This week-end saw medical students of Kerala’s medical colleges on a campaign trail. They were at the epicentre of anti vaccine campaign in the state, in the rural areas of Malappuram District.
They were at Tanalur, a place near Tirur. People here are fairly prosperous and well-educated. But they feel vaccines are bad for their kids. Here the percentage of children fully vaccinated was well under fifty percent. The families here used to close their doors at health workers who come to their homes urging them to vaccinate.
Some believe naturopath quacks when they say taking vaccines and preventing “harmless” diseases is anti nature. Others believe their political leaders who say vaccines are an imperialist conspiracy to produce sterility in the third world population. Many believe their religious scholars who tell them that Allah is giving complete protection from the womb itself and humans trying to usurp him is not only absurd but against “god”. There are also other allegations against vaccines like they are produced from pig meat and they result in paralysis and mental retardation. In several families, women who wanted their kids to be protected by vaccines had to face tough resistance from men.
Instead of autobiographical writings like this that encourage superstitious beliefs, I wish Indian schools taught this article by Dr Abraham Kovoor.
Abraham Thomas Kovoor, a renowned rationalist of South Asia, was born and educated in India. After his studies he worked as a teacher in various colleges in Sri Lanka. He was instrumental in forming Rationalist association of Sri Lanka. He campaigned widely in both India and Sri Lanka, exposing as frauds many god men and para normal phenomena.
A.T.Kovoor
This Sunday evening I was helping my son with his lessons. In his Malayalam language textbook there was a portion from the autobiography of the former Indian President, Late A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. Dr Kalam, before assuming the rather ceremonial post of Indian President, was a scientist and a science administrator at Defense Research and Development Organisation and Indian Space Research Organisation. He was closely involved in India’s space programme, development of missile technology and nuclear weapons.
