A glimpse into the medical science of homeopathy

In homeopathy, as a specific medical science we can go one step further. We can give a suitable remedy selected as the ‘Genus Epidermicus’ to healthy persons (to prevent them getting the disease by helping their system to boost their natural immunity). It can also be given to persons suspected of having the virus who may be carriers too, to help them recover faster by boosting their immune system. In India homeopathy medicine is now widely used to combat the spread of COVID-19 after much struggle by homeopathic doctors – Pic by Shehan Gunasekara 

By Suryamithra Vishwa 

The Harmony page which is committed to spreading knowledge and awareness on many aspects encompassing humans as well as the natural world, features below excerpts of an interview given to Suryamithra Vishwa by the renowned Lankan Homeopath, Dr. Imthiaz Latiff, son of the pioneering legend of homeopathy in Sri Lanka, Dr. Majeed Abdul Latiff. Dr. Imthiaz Latiff was last in the limelight for his dengue preventive work few years back. 

Could you speak about your father who introduced homeopathy to Sri Lanka?

My father, Dr. Majeed Abdul Latiff was from a family of six generations of doctors in traditional medicines in Sri Lanka. My grandfather, Majeed Marikkar was called Ali Veda (doctor who treats elephants). In modern terms, a veterinary doctor. His brother, M.M. Azeez was a Traditional Medicine and Unani doctor. He was known as the famous ‘kadum Bidum Veda Mahattaya’ of Mawanella and was the recipient of the Presidential award Lankathilaka in the 1980s. His son Dr. Hameed A. Azeez is a famous Unani doctor and currently lectures on indigenous medicine at the University of Colombo. 

The forefathers of our family were famous traditional physicians who had even treated King Sri Wickrema Rajasinghe and the King’s family during the kingdom of Kandy. So, my father being an offspring of a family of doctors was ambitious to follow the Western system of (Allopathic) medicine and enrolled himself in the West Bengal Medical College in Calcutta in 1953.

During his first year in medical college there was a severe outbreak of cholera and my father was also infected. He had taken treatment from the college medical officer with no relief for two days. He then accidently met a homoeopathic practitioner whom he relayed his suffering. Thereafter the homoeopathic doctor asked my father to come to his clinic and gave him some sugar pills. After taking just two doses within a gap of four hours as instructed by the doctor, my father felt he was almost 50% relieved. By the time he took the fourth the dose he was totally cured and back to normal. He was amazed what these magic pills were what cured his suffering within few hours! The answer was homoeopathy! 

Soon after when he met the doctor again, fully cured, he was asked what he was doing in India. My father answered that he was a first-year medical student of an Allopathic Medical college. The homeopathic doctor then asked my father, “Why are you learning a medical system that could not cure you for two days? A fair and square question, right? If the medical knowledge you learn cannot be beneficial to you, then how would it be beneficial to your patients?

Thereafter my father changed his ambition. Without informing his parents, he took the decision to learn homoeopathy in the Calcutta Homoeopathic Medical College, presently named as the ‘National Institute of Homoeopathy’. He followed a five-year study in the said college and served the College Hospital for six months as junior house physician and six months as Senior House Physician. Thereafter he returned home in 1958 as the first institutionally qualified Sri Lankan homeopath in this country.

At that time there was one Dr. Benerji, an Indian national practicing homoeopathy in Colombo. My father got an opportunity to work with him for two years after which duration the Indian doctor left for India, giving his clinic over to my father. Since then my father successfully practiced homoeopathy for about five decades and was a legend in homoeopathy in Sri Lanka. He was instrumental in getting the Homoeopathic Act of 1970 passed in Parliament. He was one of the seven members to be appointed to the first Homoeopathic Medical Council in 1973. He served as President and member in almost every Homoeopathic Medical Council since its inception. He dedicated his life towards the development of homoeopathy in Sri Lanka. His name was frequently mentioned in the Hansard of the parliament whenever anything concerned with homoeopathy was taken up for discussion.

During his period of practice, he had treated many prominent personalities including Former President J.R. Jayewardene and Helena Jayewardene, and also Hema Premadasa, Mrs. Athulathmudali and many former ministers and members of parliament such as Lakshman Jayakody, Indradasa Hettiarachchi and many prominent figures and celebrities. He was so popular among the top brass of the Police and Tri forces because he was known to perform ‘miracles’ by curing what was termed incurable by conventional treatment. 

Even allopathic doctors and their families came to him for homoeopathic treatment. During his period my father conducted many free clinics in Colombo at his own expense. During his tenure in the Homoeopathic Council he was instrumental in obtaining a five-acre plot of land at Welisara for establishing a Homoeopathic College and Teaching Hospital, and today we have the 20-bed Homoeopathic Hospital at Welisara with two separate wards for male and females as well as a separate OPD Unit and Laboratory. My father was honoured with the title ‘Vidyanidhi’ by President R. Premadasa for his dedication to homoeopathy. 

Could you speak of your background and work as a homeopathic doctor in Sri Lanka?

Yes, I have my clinic in Colombo. I qualified from the Pakistan Homoeopathic Medical College and Hospital in Lahore. I am a registered homoeopathic practitioner in Sri Lanka and Pakistan and am also the officially appointed homeopathy doctor in the Indian High Commission medical panel in Sri Lanka, treating its staff. In 2005 I assisted the special Indian Consultant in Homeopathy deputed to Sri Lanka by the Indian government to help formulate a short- and long-term development plan for homoeopathy in Sri Lanka. This culminated in the drafting of the New Homoeopathic Act of Sri Lanka which was passed in 2016. 

Also, I have accompanied the former Secretary to the Lankan Ministry of Indigenous Medicine for an official discussion with the Secretary of Health of the Government of India and was instrumental in initiating the obtaining of scholarships for Sri Lankan students to study homoeopathy in India. As a result, since then, up to date, every year 10 scholarships are awarded to Sri Lankans to study homeopathy at the National Institute of Homeopathy in Calcutta. In recent years I have collaborated with the Colombo Municipal Council to treat thousands of dengue patients. 

Could you explain about the discovery and origination of homeopathy in Germany in the 18th century?

Homoeopathy was discovered by Dr. Christian Friedrich Samuel Hahnemann in the 1790s in Germany. He was one of the highest qualified allopathic doctors in the 18th century and also a chemist. Above all he was a man with principles. Although holding a top official position as a highly qualified allopathic practitioner and enjoying a good lifestyle, he was frustrated with some of the medical methods of allopathy at the time. He was a man of high intellect and knowledge and through his years of experience as an allopathic doctor, contemplated that the allopathic methods may do more harm than good. Therefore, he resigned his position, gave up his practice and continued his work as a chemist. 

He was a man who knew around 30 languages and he took up literary work and translations of various books. During his translation he came across a medical book by the great Scottish physician William Cullen’s Materia Medica. This book contained details about the effects of the Peruvian Bark which was also called Quinine and given as a treatment for malarial fever (botanical name is Cinchona officinalis). In the footnote in the page about the Peruvian Bark it was stated that the reason this particular medicinal plant was used to treat malarial fever was because it has the property to produce malaria-like symptoms.

This was an eye opener to Dr. Hahnemann and led him to a new discovery in science. He experimented on himself by taking the extract of the Peruvian bark and he noticed that he experienced the characteristic symptoms of malaria; intermittent fever with chill and perspiration. For the next few years, he decided to experiment all other drugs in the material medica in different dosages on different people, both male and female under various conditions. 

Experimenting first with the treatment of malaria, he tried giving patients much smaller or diluted dosage instead of the usual. This worked in permanent cure. His results justified what was stated in Cullen’s material medica that properties of Peruvian bark had the ability to treat malaria, because it has the similar effect and ability to produce identical symptoms of malaria. What was happening earlier was that due to large/crude doses it had too much side effects and resulting in relapses after treatment. He then embarked on the long research of drug proving for other ailments using herbs as well as diverse other compounds.

After the success of his drug proving which was never carried out on animals as in allopathic science but on humans, he introduced the discovery of the new medical science called homoeopathy derived from Greek (where ‘homoeo’ means similar and the word ‘pathy’ means treatment). Thereby the new scientific law called Similia Similibus Curantur was introduced which means let ‘like be treated with like’. In simple terms any drug given to a healthy person during drug proving, in large doses can produce symptoms of the same disease the compound can fully cure when administered in very small diluted doses to someone ill with the same sickness. 

Could you explain the technical difference between allopathy and homeopathy?

Yes, the two words allopathy and homoeopathy itself are two opposite to each other. In Greek, the meaning ‘allo’ means opposite and ‘pathy’ means treatment – opposite treatment. ‘Homoeo’ means similar and ‘pathy’ means treatment – similar treatment.

So now you can see the two words itself are contrary to each other, likewise the concept also is opposite. Allopathic treatment is based on the physiological and pathological changes that have been observed during proving of drugs on animals. The concept of diseases in allopathy is that it is caused by external forces like bacteria, virus, parasites, etc. and also changes in cell pathology resulting in the failure of any organ or function of our human body based on physical science. 

Medicines of allopathy are discovered and administered to counter act such changes for example – Anti Inflammatory, Anti Bacterial, Anti Histamine, Anti Acid, Anti Coagulants, Anti depressive so on, to bring on an opposite effect to the exhibiting condition. 

Now let’s take homoeopathy. Here the treatment is based on the causative factor. According to the concept of homoeopathy there are ‘no’ diseases, but only diseased (dis-ease) in persons. The word dis-ease itself is self-explanatory. Accordingly, to the philosophy of homeopathy the so-called diseases which have been given various names are merely external manifestation of the internal disorder (dis-order) and disorientation exhibited by way of signs and symptoms, which may be physical, pathological, functional or psychological.

What is internal disorder? We should first understand what is life and death. When a person dies what actually happens or what changes in the body that takes place or what is lost from the dead persons compared to a living person? The body function! All organs cease to function, and we pronounce as dead and we comment as “may his soul rest in peace.” Then what is lost? His soul; meaning his energy which was governing the body and the organs to function. In homeopathy we term this energy as the ‘vital force’. It is the main force that governs and controls the body It is responsible for all the functions of the body including physiological function, cell development and every activity of a person which includes likes, dislikes, cravings, knowledge, memory; in general, all activities of a person.

What has this ‘vital force’ got to do with health and disease?

The term ‘health’ means when this vital force which was responsible for the total function of our body, is in perfect harmony and equilibrium. This health is facilitated by what we call our immune system that acts a defence mechanism. The term dis-ease is when this vital force is altered or functions disturbed or disorientation from its usual state and needs to be reinstated back to its original healthy state. The only way it can make known its altered state is by producing signs and symptoms which are exhibited and felt by the person/s with dis-ease. This is termed as the external manifestation of the internal disorder and medical professionals select a group of signs and symptoms including the pathological changes and give them various terminologies, including the latest terminology COVID-19 or Corona.

Now how does homoeopathy consider to treat a person with dis-ease and reinstate the vital force to its original state?

It follows the Law of Similar as explained above and restores the vital force. We administer in extremely minute doses in restoring the harmony of the body. Let me give an example to show this; take a cup of water and put a tablespoon of salt. You will feel the taste of the salt. Now take a large cauldron and do the same; you will not taste the salt but the ‘physics’ of the salt is there. Similarly, homeopathic medicines are made highly diluted and in atomic form for the transfer of energy. This is why in homeopathy there are zero side effects. You can take it along with any other form of medicine such as allopathy or ayurveda. 

Could you speak of the preventive medicine made specifically for COVID-19?

The COVID-19 virus is not an exceptional condition. It has the same impact on the vital force. Not all COVID-19 infected persons exhibit symptoms. Most of the infected persons are merely carriers and they could infect others but they themselves would be healthy. This is because their immunity or vital force can withstand the infection. Due to their strong immunity they can defend the infection and do not exhibit the symptoms. After few days if tested, they will be negative, as the immune system has battled and destroyed the virus from the body. 

If someone gets this virus, it is paramount that s/he maintain a healthy living, isolate themselves from others, take plenty of calcium rich food and drink, eat fresh and healthy food, exercise, get sunlight, be free from stress, worries, fear, emotions and keep up a positive outlook. Negative thoughts and fear about the disease will make a person’s immunity weak. This is the common and general advice given to the public. 

But in homeopathy, as a specific medical science we can go one step further. We can give a suitable remedy selected as the ‘Genus Epidermicus’ to healthy persons (to prevent them getting the disease by helping their system to boost their natural immunity). It can also be given to persons suspected of having the virus who may be carriers too, to help them recover faster by boosting their immune system. In India homeopathy medicine is now widely used to combat the spread of COVID-19 after much struggle by homeopathic doctors. 

Have you been given a chance to sit on the Task Force set up to handle the COVID-19 pandemic in Sri Lanka?

No. 

Could you speak of the work you have done in Sri Lanka with the Colombo Municipal Council to prevent and cure dengue?

Few years back when Omar Kamil was the Mayor of Colombo Municipal Council there was a severe threat of dengue. As a result, there were many deaths and so many persons infected. The allopathic system was helpless as they had no treatment nor preventive for dengue other than cleaning the environment free from dengue breeding sites. 

In this crisis myself, few other homoeopaths and well-wishers of homoeopathy had a detailed discussion with the Mayor, and requested his patronage to provide homoeopathic prophylaxis for dengue in high risk areas, which was entirely on voluntary basis by our homoeopaths. Sponsorship was provided by well-wishers for medicines, publicity, logistics and the assistance required for distribution. It was a long struggle to be able to do this initiative as we were opposed by the then chief medical officer who was an allopathic doctor. He did not grant the permission to do this initiative. However, after us relentlessly trying, we got the support of the Mayor. He requested the Colombo Municipal Council Indigenous Medicine unit to coordinate with us and give us the necessary support in arranging municipal public welfare halls to provide the dengue prophylaxis.

We started our program from Slave Island; a highly vulnerable area for dengue infection which had the highest number of reported cases. We conducted the program for three consecutive days with our homoeopathic doctors, and provided preventive medicines to every household in Slave Island and every member of the family. We took a list of all the names of the persons in every house that were given the treatment. We handed this list over to the Epidemiology Unit through the CMC Indigenous Medicine Unit. 

After almost three weeks had passed after we conducted the program, I got call from an allopathic doctor from the Epidemiology Unit, requesting me if another program could be organised in another high-risk area in Dematagoda. This doctor’s request was only logical as the number of cases in Slave Island had drastically reduced. Thereafter we extended our focus to Dematagoda, Matakkuliya, Modera, Grandpass, Kirulapona and Borella to name a few areas. The results were the same as Slave Island. Anyone can check on this with past records.