Homeopathy may be added to a list of blacklisted drugs not supported by the NHS in the UK.
Health ministers have decided to convene sometime in 2016 to review a proposal of a group called Good Thinking Society, which has been campaigning against NHS support on prescribed homeopathic medicine. It contends that homeopathy doesn't work and that given the limited resources of NHS right now, funds should be coursed through drugs that have real benefits to patients. The group has been forcing the ministers to respond to their request, but the ministers are believed to have acted only when the group threatened to take the matter to courts.
Homeopathy is a very old alternative medicine based on the "like cures like" principle, which means the substance that could probably be causing the symptoms can also cure the illness. It achieves such result in a process called succussion, which is dilution combined with shaking of the mixture. Certain percentage of dilution and number of shaking can provide the desired effect. Further, the higher the dilute, the more effective it is believed to be.
In the UK, homeopathy solutions, which are complemented by a lactose pill, can be prescribed by general practitioners in homeopathic hospitals and homeopathic specialists and billed to NHS. So far, NHS is set to pay more than £3m.
According to critics, not only is homeopathy ineffective, but the lactose pill contains nothing but sugar. The NHS through its official website also mentioned that the practice doesn't have "good-quality evidence" to suggest that it works. Nevertheless, it also claims that homeopathy, which is used for treating a variety of diseases including common ones like asthma and high blood pressure, is generally safe and adverse side effects are "small." Homeopathy remains unregulated in the UK.
In response to the blacklist call, Dr Helen Beaumont, Faculty of Homeopathy president and practicing GP, says that she finds the situation "disappointing" and that she believes that the ministers are embarking on a costly consultation on a treatment that has benefited thousands of patients and is being practiced in many parts of Europe. Rather than focusing on homeopathy, she suggests targeting SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) usually given to treat depression. Some studies have linked SSRIs to risk of suicide thoughts.