Doctors differ on treatment by ‘quackery’
Mayo GP Oliver White lashed out at “quackery’’ and “pseudo-scientists” who were promoting complementary medicines. He said anyone could come up with a concoction and find someone who claimed to be cured by it a few weeks later and he called for a stop to the “fantasy” that was going on.
“Billions are being spent throughout the world on this and people are being fooled,’’ Dr White said, claiming the medical profession and science were being undermined.
Not every doctor agreed, however, and a motion by Dr White that all medications and treatment procedures used on patients be first approved by the Irish Medicines Board was carried by only a narrow margin — 11 votes to nine.
Tralee GP Bernard Ruane said doctors did not know everything and should not set themselves up as gods.
“We all have loads of patients that we have no cure for, but alternatives can do a lot of good for people,” he said.
Referring to practitioners such as herbalists, acupuncturists, hypnotists, and homeopaths, Dr Ruane said they could give loads of time to people, time that doctors did not have to give.
“They can certainly benefit people from psychological and counselling points of view,” said Dr Ruane. “They can do incredibly good things for some people. The time they give is what’s important.”
However, IMO president Paul McKeown described complementary medicine as a “very grey area spreading like a cancer”.
Claims being made about such medicines should be subjected to the same stringency applied to mainstream medicine, he said.
Other delegates said that, in some European countries, doctors incorporated alternative medicine into their practices.
