Scientific medicine gained traction after powerful businessmen took over medicine. The effort to own the medical process dates back to the days of Jenner and Pasteur. Both had powerful backers and were therefore able to deflect attention from the criticism that came from the genuine doctors of the day.
Medicine in that era was vibrant and not the quagmire that we are led to believe. Doctors were interested in the community’s well-being. This was clear in their pathbreaking approach. They tried to integrate all systems. The medical colleges taught naturopathy, herbalism, homeopathy, chiropractic science, and dealt with energy medicine. Hospitals had wings devoted to these systems and the results they achieved influenced all.
SUCCESS OF HOMEOPATHY
The success of homeopathy was so great that the best of brains practiced it. In those days the quacks were very powerful as their drastic measures destroyed symptoms and they capitalized on that. They got together and formed the American Medical Association (AMA) in the USA. They forbade the doctors from practicing the holistic systems as they were worried about their own practice.
The human body is a biological entity dependent on natural elements, natural food, and energy gained therefrom. It is subject to natural laws. Hippocrates is credited to be the father of medicine for good reason. He meticulously documented the principles and process. They stand true to this day.
IMPORTANCE OF HOLISTIC PRINCIPLES
Even Dr William Osler who is considered the father of modern medicine as he launched the reductionist approach was aware of the importance of holistic principles. Osler was the expert consultant behind the anti v movement as it is he who contributed to the knowledge base.
Even as the business forces took over they realized that the doctors of the day were not responsive to their overtures. The qualified doctors continued to think about results (health outcomes). They were concerned about the communities they served. They severely criticized half baked measures that harmed and destroyed health.
The business house hired a retired school master, Abraham Flexner. Based upon an earlier draft of the AMA, they released the Flexner Report in 1910. This report banned all holistic and curative systems. It declared the reductionist system to be the only option to be practiced.
Tremendous power was then yielded to close medical colleges and hospitals that refused to bow. The principles of scientific medicine (based on dubious and cruel practices of the Nazi era) were then adopted. They were then fine tuned in the Rockefeller Institute of Medical Research. Things worsened after the infamous I G Farben became an essential part of the medical industry. The intent was to grow, earn and profit rather than ensure health.
PRESENT DAY
The industry today dominates and dictates everything and the entry of philanthropists has snuffed out all scope for reforms. As a result, disease has become an essential part of our lives. Poverty due to medical expenses is a stark reality.
The science of health is naturopathy and systems built upon it. Health can’t emerge from laboratories and from the needles of syringes that have come to represent medicine. The narrative coming from a captured media has brainwashed people and the younger generation have no memory of a healthy society. Currently it is our duty to change gears and force the behemoth to concede its mistakes. Otherwise we stare at mass extinction; and more important torture and suffering.
(Dr Naresh Purohit is an Epidemiologist and Principal Investigator For Executive Member of Indian Medical Academy For Preventive Health. The views and opinion expressed in this article are those of the author)
