Challenges in Preparing Homeopathic Medicines

When the German physician, Samuel Christian Friedrich Hahnemann, first introduced homeopathy to the world, it was because he was appalled by medical practice in the late 1700s when physicians believe that bleeding, vomiting and purging noxious agents from the body can heal it and bring a patient back to health. Same treatment was conducted to the late president, George Washington who died two days after he underwent medication and lost an estimated 128 ounces of blood and received a number of injections and laxatives. 

The newly created medical practice, ‘homeopathy’, would later dominate most of Europe, reaching even the British royal family. Whether or not Hahnemann predicted the fame of his discovery, homeopathy was popularized in the United States and most parts of Asia. Supporters grew as the reputation of the new treatment spread far across the globe. From homeopathic clinics scattered to as far as Jakarta, Indonesia and on-call homeopathic doctors in China, the popularity of homeopathy is indeed rising. 

Review of current standing shows homeopathy as the worst rival of conventional medicine, or allopathy as what Hahnemann calls it. Conflict between the two practices also exists – and getting worse. However, competition is not the only issue faced by homeopathy.

Proper implementation of homeopathic processes for each treatment is also an arising challenge among practitioners.

Preparation of each homeopathic medicine requires proper observation of its intricacies. The amount of starting material present in the homeopathic medicine may depend entirely on preparation. Safety issues may arise if these preparations are neglected. Homeopathic experts also cited that the complaints they are receiving from different patients may be the result of negligence.

According to a study shared to The Peterson Group by World Health Organization (WHO), there are two major groups of potential hazards: those related to the source materials, and those related to the procedures used for manufacture of the finished product.

Nature and synthetic is the source of homeopathic treatment, so there is no weight on complaints of fraudulence. However, homeopathic medicines may employ material from problematic sources, the use of which is restricted in conventional medicine: nosodes comprise dilutions of pathogenic organs or tissues; causative agents such as bacteria, fungi, ova, parasites, virus particles, and yeast; disease products; excretions or secretions. All materials of animal or human origin are at risk of containing pathogenic agents. Homeopathic medicines may be based on toxic source materials from animals or plants, while others, particularly in their fresh form are prone to degradation processes or microbiological contamination.