Allopathy was the term coined by Samuel Hahnemann to denote a system of medicine that is opposed to homoeopathy, which he founded. Then why is it being used to describe modern medicine was the doubt raised by K.K. Vikraman from Ernakulam, one of the participants at a session on alternative medicines at Litmus’ 19, a seminar organised by the freethinkers’ group esSense here on Sunday.
The doctors on the dais pointed out that the term allopathy was outdated indeed. They said modern medicine was an evidence-based system that should be referred to as it is. The session was meant to shed light on the purported unscientific nature of alternative medical practices such as Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani, and Homeopathy. Questions were chosen from select participants.
Later, Jayakrishnan from Palakkad wanted to know why alternative medical practices were termed scientific.
ADVERTISEMENT
Dileep Mamballil pointed out that the basic principles of the systems were against science and they were not following any scientific methods for diagnosis or treatment. They were not evidence-based systems too, he added.
Some other participants asked then why the government was promoting such practices and why legal action was not being taken against even fake medical practitioners. To this, R. Ragesh pointed out that if some of the systems were legally banned, they would lead to some people opting for illegal practice. “So what the government is trying to do is to have a regulatory mechanism and set a certain safety level for their use,” he added.
As many as 6,000 delegates attended various sessions at the seminar.
ADVERTISEMENT