Homeopathy Papers

Homeopathy in Nepal

Written by Rajesh Pradhanang

Dr. Rajesh Pradhanang discusses the state of homeopathy in Nepal. He describes the various attempts to establish schools and to inform the public via magazines, radio, and TV.

(Editor’s Note:   Dr. Rajesh Pradhanang passed away on Dec 12th, 2021 – See a remembrance of him in the TIPS column of this issue.)

Nepal, a small country lying in between the great countries of India and China has a history of application of natural medicines for many centuries. Nepal having open border facilities with India has had many years of communication with and influences from India. The people of different countries have entered Nepal through Indian borders with different plans and projects.

Nearly 150 years ago during the Rana regime in Nepal, the British medical officials   visited the capital Kathmandu for treating the ruling families. It used to happen that the European homeopaths also used homeopathic medicine but it was not recorded in the records.

Dr. Khush Bahadur Thapa, a veterinary physician, treated the Rana Prime minister’s elephant who suffered from terrible pain, using homeopathy. Dr. Thapa put some pills in banana and gave it to the elephant. The quick relief of the elephant made Prime Minister Juddha Samasher Rana (Rana Era 1846AD-1950AD) astonished and very happy.

Dr. Thapa requested the prime minister of that time to provide approval of use of homeopathic remedies to the public. The prime minister established  a homeopathic dispensary for the public at Sundhara, an area of Kathmandu.

After democracy came about and relief from the Rana regime of 104 years, a public homeopathic hospital, “Shree Pashupati Homeopathic Hospital” was started by holy man Ram Aghori Baba with the help of the homeopathic physician Dr. Puskal Nath Sharma at Pashupati Area in 1950.

After the good successes of homeopathic medicine, the Government of Nepal started providing scholarships to students to attend Calcutta Homeopathic Medical College, West Bengal, India through the Colombo plan. The Government run Mohan Homeopathic Dispensary was started in Sundhara, Kathmandu during the same period. Three Homeopathic dispensaries were started in different districts of the country to utilize the manpower produced by the Government scholarship program.

The private hospital taken up by the Government and the staff of Mohan Homeopathy dispensary was authorized to handle the six bedded Shree Pashupati Homeopathic Hospital situated at the Pashupati area of Kathmandu.

Since then, homeopathic treatment was started by private and social organizations. During 1953 the business group Marwari Sewa Samiti established a free homeopathic dispensary at Phasikeba, Kathmandu for all citizens.

Dr. Krishna Bhagat Pradhanang, former chief of the homeopathic hospital had a vision of constructing a building of 25 bed capacity. After a long and laborious effort,  Dr. Pradhanang  constructed a new building for the government hospital at Pulchowk adjacent to UNO building, in the Lalitpur district.

So Shree Pashupati Homeopathic Hospital was shifted to the new building in 1981. But to date, the Government has not provided the fundamental hospital facilities for a homeopathic hospital and is only providing for the outpatient department.

At present some portion of the land of the homeopathic hospital has been occupied by a regional court and other organizations are occupying the remaining space. Unfortunately the hospital management is helpless to save the hospital property.

Mr. Tarun Sanchiti, a businessman from Biratnagar envisioned the further development of homeopathy by creating more qualified homeopathic physicians. He established Nepal Homeopathic Medical College in Biratnagar (eastern part of the country) in 2002, with the affiliation of Purbanchal University.

This college produced around 60 homeopathic physicians. However, due to internal problems caused by vested interests of some people of that area, there were difficulties in continuing the only homeopathic medical college. Finally, with great loss and sadness Mr. Sancheti closed down the courses after providing the qualified  degree certificate from that college.

A European group establish a homeopathic clinic and education center of homeopathy in 1994 at Bhaktapur with help of a local personality but without having any official recognition from government. Some people were trained in classical homeopathy. After completion of training by this group, they worked hard to receive affiliation from the Nepal Health Professional Council, so they could practice with a Level B group certificate provided by Nepal Health professional council.

And again, with the help of Bhaktapur International Homeopathic Clinic an organization in Germany started an officially recognized Homeopathy Health Assistant course in 2009 at Bhaktapur. It has graduated seven groups of Homeopathic Health Assistants. However, this course has not been running for the last few years, and it is very sad that very few students follow the principles of homeopathy in practice at the present time.

Holiness Buddha Maitreya Treatment And Healing Centre was established at Swoyambhu,Kathmandu in December 2005 AD with  blessing and kindness of HH Buddha Maitreya with facilities like:His Holiness Buddha Maitreya Soul Therapy meditation system,minor surgical facilities for small wounds,cuts and bruises with Homeopathic medicine.Pathology lab:Blood urine,stool and sputum tests, E.C.G.

For more many years in Nepal, homeopathic medicines were used by practitioners basically to treat the name of the disease. In reality, homeopathy treats the patient as a whole on the basis of signs and symptoms, using a single medicine at a time to increase the level of health.

Slowly the group of non-academic people (whose aim was to make financial benefit rather than treating patients) started to use homeopathic remedies for treating people. These groups are now in the majority and making the homeopathic system a shadow of what it should be, giving a false image to the public.

Most people in the country believe that homeopathy is the Ayurvedic system, and some believe it is not scientific but traditional. Homeopathy is familiar among the districts adjacent to Indian borders but the homeopathic practitioners here are practicing with mixtures of patent medicines produced by various companies.

We do have some qualified homeopathic physicians from Indian homeopathic medical colleges and some from the Nepal Homeopathic Medical college. However, the real principles of homeopathy are not familiar to the general public and most practitioners do not follow the laws and rules of homeopathy.

This is the reason I have engaged in the quest to raise awareness of homeopathy through articles and interviews on radio and television for the last 22 years. Also,  for nearly 14 years I have been doing a Homeopathy and Health weekly broadcast on FM radio at station 97.9.

I want to inform people that true homeopathic physicians prescribe a single medicine at a time based on the total picture of an individual and his symptoms.

Along with the radio show, I started a You Tube channel. My continuous efforts of the last 22 years have started bringing awareness among the people as well as some government officials of Nepal.

I think that one reason that homeopathy has been defamed in Nepal and in other countries is that it has not been practiced according the original teachings of Hahnemann. The only way to get better results from homeopathy is to practice according to the teachings provided by the founder of homeopathy, Dr. Samuel Hahnemann. At the present time Professor George Vithoulkas of Greece is teaching many people from around the world how to practice according the fundamental principles of homeopathy.

www.rajeshpradhanang.com.np

About the author

Rajesh Pradhanang

Dr. Rajesh Pradhanang lives and works in Nepal. He studied at Pratap Chandra Homoeopathic Medical College & Hospital, received D.H.M.S from West Bengal Council and has studied with Dr. D.J. Sutarwala. In addition to his clinic, he created a free homoeopathic dispensary at Thai Kirti Monastery , Kirtipur. He established His Holiness Buddha Maitreya and Healing Center at Swayambhu, Kathmandu, which provides homeopathic services and also organizes the yearly celebration "Homoeopathy Day" . Dr. Pradhanang publishes the yearly homoeopathic magazine, HOMOEO NEWS, writes articles for magazines and does radio and TV interviews about homeopathy. He has also worked as producer and anchor of radio health programs.

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