Homeopathic doctors dismissed reports in a reputable medical journal that alternative treatment does not work.
However, physicians here agree saying there is no scientific study to show that homeopathic treatment is effective.
Gulf News found that no two people agree on the subject. A study published in Lancet urged doctors to tell patients that they were wasting their time using homeopathy.
"Some chronic problems that have been given up on by allopathic doctors are successfully treated with homeopathy," said Dr Sofie Skogen, homeopathic practitioner at the Medlink clinic in Jumeirah.
There are around 100 registered practitioners in the UAE.
Dr Sharma Shivani, development representative for the Life Healthcare Group, said homeopathy is very popular here and that it works.
He said 2,000 homeopathic medicines exist, but the Ministry of Health has only registered 122 so far.
A physician on the other hand said an article in such a top-class journal cannot be dismissed.
Dr P.K.D. Chowdhury, paediatrician at Al Rafa Clinic, said: "Publications such as Lancet and British Medical Journal have stringent selection of articles."
"There is no scientific research which says that alternative treatment works," he said. "If some people are cured, they think it works."
"This is unlike research which traces and notes the effectiveness of the chemicals, the medicine, in the metabolism," he said.
An Indian father of a five-year-old boy said he had tried homeopathy for his son for his frequent colds. "We didn't see any improvement. The homeopath made us try different things and said it would take some time but in the end I said 'stop'."
Meenal Patel, 42, an Indian mother of two, said she was given homeopathic pellets as a child and now she chooses it over allopathic medicine.
She said she now treats her daughter the same way.
Dr Sean Penny, homeopathic practitioner and homotoxicologist at the Dubai Herbal and Treatment Centre, said homeopathy works best with children and the elderly.
He said he does not entertain such comments made by the medical profession. "Research will always show different things depending on how the research is conducted," he said.
"Homeopathy works psychologically as well as physiologically," he said.
Gulf News
