Minutus

Dear Soroush,

Thanks for your excellent explanation of the PCT's.

I would appreciate you not posting this email anywhere else but here - as a result of my original email about this issue my email address is now posted all over the web (you were not responsible for that one I know).

The PCT issue is more complicated than you suggest. As I have said it the past - whatever we may think about the quality of homeopathy practiced at the RLHH given the 20 minute consultation time they are allowed - they do nonetheless provide a worthwhile service and many patients credit them with saving them from years of suffering. I know some excellent homeopathy is being practiced there - the example you cite was unfortunate and more of an example of how savvy we need to get about using the media ourselves!

The issue now is: there is an orchestrated campaign to remove homeopathy from the NHS - for more info anyone can email me personally and I will send you the time line - don't have time to lay it out right now - PCT's have been implored (yes that's the word - by eminent members of the medical profession - some of them named in the previous links I sent - to the recent Observer article and Prof Colquhoun's Quack page - see below - who have described homeopathy as 'witchcraft', and all the usual derogatory phrases) to STOP funding 'implausible' therapies - to STOP wasting public money on homeopathy. As a direct result PCT's have withdrawn funding from ALL the homeopathic hospitals in the UK - several of which are now threatened with closure - as well as stopping referrals from GP's to homeopathic providers, including hospitals with self-fulfilling result - falling patient demand!

Imho this is not a time for division. While homeopathy is within the NHS it is still on the table in the UK. The RLHH provides some credibility for the profession. The upcoming EU regulations are another question - but for now I see anything we can do to keep homeopathy on the agenda as a worthwhile healthcare option will benefit us all.

So please again encourage people to sign the petition - we can argue amongst ourselves about the rest of it.

Observer article

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/ ... 05,00.html

Prof Colquhoun's Quack page - don't anyone bother responding to him, save your energy:

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Pharmacology/dc-bits/quack.html

Thanks,

Carol
Carol Boyce, MCH, CCH, RSHom (NA)
Director of Education
The Homeopathic Symposium
www.homeopathicsymposium.com
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Dear Carol
The other sad thing is that when Prof David Peters of Westminster Uni had a chance to defend Homoeopathy against Prof Colquhoun' (BBC Radio 4 - Today Programme and also Material World) in March he was so weak that in place of Peters wiping the floor with Colquhoun, he struggled badly and allowed all sorts of allegations be laid against Homoeopathy. Why did the Uni let him go on the prog when he is not a homoeopath. The job should have been left to some of the excellent homoeopaths on the staff of Westminster University's Homoeopathy department.
Oh how I despair!
One of my areas of despair is Fisher's performance. I have no confidence in him or his management and I think the situation the RLHH finds itself is partly due to his ineffectiveness.
In fact when one reads Colquhoun's web site with quotes from Fisher one can see why he has given them the opportunity for such attack.
Would I send my nearest and dearest to RLHH? Still No!

Rgds
Soroush

Hi Soroush,

I completely agree - I also despair - what is it? They are afraid of the ridicule from their peers , (not used to it like us huh? ) they are pressured behind the scenes ? Whatever the reason I am incredulous at the fact that we seem to have NOT ONE strong advocate who is able to deal with the media effectively. Sometimes I wonder which side Peter F is on having witnessed him rescue Ben Goldacre and then hand him a placebo prize on a platter at the public debate in 2005. it does not surprise me that Prof Peters could not hold his own - but yes WHY was he allowed to take part in the interview when he is not a homeopath? We as a profession have to get media savvy asap and not be afraid to meet the 'opposition' - not with defensive postures but with full knowledge that what we do is based on truth and no amount of ridicule and claims of implausibility will change that.

And may I ask HOW can anyone who calls themselves a scientist dismiss an entire system of medicine on the basis of implausibility????? That's reason alone to investigate more fully - but it's not about fact it's about vested interests and politics - it's why there is little point in meeting them in their arena - the odds are already stacked - they don't use reasoned arguments, just cheap shots. Plus homeopathy is currently in that strange world of abhorrent ideas not yet vindicated - a bit like William Harvey when he discovered the circulatory system - laughed out of the medical community - or even more recently Marshall and his 'ridiculous' idea about ulcers and heliobacter pylori (ignoring susceptibility of course, but nonetheless.)

I would still rather save RLHH and push for stronger management than see it fall. Most likely scenario is that the RLHH will stay - be taken over by other groups - keep some CAM but lose homeopathy and have homeopathy removed from the title - the proposal is already on the table and powerful groups are pushing hard.

Politics, politics, politics......

Carol

Dr.Chinnamma Tina Belgaumkar
Belna Homoeopathy & Wellness Centre
70 Cass Ave. unit # 124, Scarborough,
Ontario, Canada. M1T 3P9
416-293-6693, 416 697-9355
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