The potential of homoeopathy remains largely unexplored even though it is practised in more than 80 countries, Ayush Minister Shripad Naik said today on the occasion of World Homeopathy Day.
Inaugurating an international convention on Homoeopathy at Vigyan Bhawan here, Naik said, "The potential of homoeopathy remains largely unexplored and, therefore, under-utilized in public health. This, despite the fact that homoeopathy is practised in more than 80 countries of the world."
The two-day convention was organised to deliberate on different scenarios of homoeopathy in India and other countries, including developing strategies for formulating national policies, high-quality medical education, evidence based clinical practice and to promote appropriate integration of homoeopathy with the health care system.
"I am hopeful that this convention will lead to healthy discussions and the recommendations will pave way for focused development of harmonization in education, clinical care, research and drug development practices and processes in the world," he said.
Noting that India has made significant progress in developing homoeopathy, Naik said the country is a major contributor to its research.
"The work of Indian homoeopathy researchers is often cited by many international researchers and these works range from basic research studies on in-vitro and in-vivo models of cell lines, quantum physics, nanoscience to clinical research in diseases like diabetes, mellitus, hypothyroidism, tuberculosis and urolithiasis," he said.
The event is being organised to commemorate the 261st birth anniversary of the founder of Homoeopathy, Dr Christian Friedrich Samuel Hahnemann, a German physician, who was also a great scholar, linguist and acclaimed scientist.
Representatives from several countries, including Brazil, Russia, South Africa, Italy, Netherlands, UK, Austria, Armenia, Canada, Israel, Australia, Bangladesh, Japan, France, UAE, Cuba, Nepal, Turkey, Argentina, Slovenia, Pakistan, Ghana and Kenya, are participating in the convention.
Health Ministers of Bangladesh and Nepal and those of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka are also taking part.
