A large number of alternate
medications are available these days for every medical condition imaginable. People
claim to have prevention and cures for things ranging from cancer to AIDS to almost
every disease known to the mankind. The truth behind these tall claims is what
needs to be verified.
The biggest problem facing
alternate medicine today is that the entire industry is not regulated. One can
actually be selling plain water with some salt or sugar mixed in it, claiming
it to be a cure for cancer and nobody can touch him. A large number of gullible
people are taken for a ride by these false claims and spend fortunes on these
“medicines” with little result.
Medical problems are such
that one tends to try his hand at anything that has some hope of solving his
problem. This is especially true in long standing, chronic problems. There are
many conditions for which modern medical science only has supportive treatment,
with no definitive cure available. These conditions are usually the ones which
these alternate therapies claim to cure.
Allopathic medicine (a term
not generally used by allopathic medicine practitioners), which is the regular
stream of medicine, is the one which is widely used and practiced. It is
governed by stringent rules, laws and approvals, with the regulatory agencies
keeping a constant check, which make it very difficult for false claims to be
made. This is not the case in most of the alternate streams of medicine. It is
not to be thought that all these alternate streams of medicine are hoaxes, but
most of them are. Without regulation, innocent people are taken for a ride.
It is not just the
financial aspect involved in the alternative medicine that is bothersome, but
also the mental agony a person has to go through. A person, afflicted with a
chronic disease, would tend to clutch at every straw that is available. When he
comes across an alternate therapy claiming to cure his condition, his hopes are
raised. He follows the strict regimen usually accompanying these therapies and
starts dreaming of a 'normal' life. Within a few weeks, his hopes start
dwindling, exactly like the last thing he had tried before resorting to
alternative medicine. The mental aspect of this can only be understood by someone
who has gone through this.
The general public is
usually more sympathetic towards practitioners of alternate therapies, with
their methods never being questioned. The educational background of these
“doctors” is never verified, who, anyway are not qualified to treat patients.
The treatment they provide is also not backed by any formal education in the
subject.
Most people decide to try
these therapies based on hearsay. “Someone became totally alright after just
two weeks of the particular treatment”, is a sentence that is enough for a
person to go rushing to the “doctor” to try out the same treatment.
It is entirely possible
that alternate therapies do actually have benefits in certain diseases, and
yoga being of much help. But the claims which are made these days by quacks on
the pretext of these sciences without any basis, bringing a bad repute to these
disciplines, needs to be checked immediately.
Then there are things like
Reiki and cosmic healing, faith healing and similar stuff. It is indeed true
that faith is a very important aspect in healing, and can be practiced along
with conventional treatment methods available. But how these methods can claim
to cure chronic illnesses on their own, just without any medicines, still
remains an enigma.
What is the urgent need of
the hour is a strict regulation. This is an area where intervention of the government
is required. People making tall claims without any scientific backing should be
booked and stringent action taken against them. Initiatives should be taken by
the government as well as various NGOs to ensure that people are made aware and
prevented from falling prey to such horrifying practices. These practices tend
to take our society many centuries back. These must come to end, the sooner the
better.
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