The Future of the California Homeopathic Medical Society
By Richard Hiltner, MD
The California Homeopathic Medical Society [CHMS] is adjusting to the changes of life, in general, and in medicine. This is indeed a time of challenges in a variety of areas: the weakened economy; continued and new attacks on homeopathy nationally and internationally; Swine Flu H1N1; the harmonious blending of the different practitioners; the adjustments with The California Homeopath journal; CHMS Active Membership changes; website updates and intercommunications; national health care system adjustments; various systems in homeopathy: Classical, Sensation [Sankaran], Masi, Boeninghausen, high/low, single/multiple etc.
In respect to the economy, the CHMS has had to curtail its publication of the hardcopy of the The California Homeopath journal because of excessive expenses. It will now be only on-line. Richard Pitt, the editor, will give more details in this on-line journal. In regard to this, the future websites will eventually offer much better interaction, more timely updates and will have the ability to use credit card processing.
There are still the perennial attacks on homeopathy which emphasizes the necessity for all the homeopathic organizations to work as much in unison as possible. The CHMS is well known for its tolerance to different opinions, practitioners, etc. It will hopefully work more and more with other organizations. There are two relatively recent attacks that should be mentioned:
1] There is a network in the United Kingdom called Voices for Young Science which sent a letter to a World Health Organization [WHO] official denouncing homeopathy. Then, there is another UK group acting on behalf of that network called Sense about Science that also made claims about WHO stands on homeopathy. Sense about Science also sent letters to a number of Health Ministers around the world promoting their assertion that officials in the WHO had made adverse claims regarding the use of homeopathy in serious diseases.
2] Another, I found out in Warsaw, Poland at the last International Liga Congress in August 2009. This was a real shock to me. Apparently some Catholic priests in Poland and Hungary have called homeopathy black magic. As a matter of fact, a polish priest, Jacek Norkowski, spoke at that Congress and stated that this was just the opinion of a few priests and that there have been a number of Popes who have supported homeopathy. He personally supported homeopathy and considered it to be very scientific.
At the Warsaw Congress much discussion was on the Swine Flu. Michel Van Wassenhoven, the Secretary of Research, delineated the latest information on this pandemic treat. There is not one Epidemic Genus discovered yet, but it has been narrowed down to a few remedies. He developed a reporting sheet [see attachment] on how different practitioners can report their findings to a central source. This is another example of the present and future role of the CHMS. It will be a more organized society to channel this and other information for the global use of homeopathy.
In order to increase its future membership, the CHMS has expanded its Active Membership to three categories as outlined on its website: homeopathywest.org. In category: C. Active Membership in the Society is also available nationally or internationally to non-USA licensed health professionals who have a valid license to practice homeopathy in their country of residence and /or at least 500 hours homeopathic training [lectures, video, etc.] and 2 years clinical experience.
This is very close to the newly adopted global criteria in Warsaw of the International League of Homeopathic Physicians [the LIGA]. Specifically, the Liga ratified: Training should comprise 600 hours including a minimum of 350 hours class room teaching. Three years of sufficient clinical training and appropriate clinical experience is required.
In the future, the CHMS may want to increase its requirements to be in closer guidelines with the Liga.
Finally, the national legislature discussions on the direction of medicine in the USA are on everybody’s mind. The CHMS should be part of the input and work with other organizations for the potential of homeopathy in the United States.
So our work is cut out for us. Let’s hope we can express as much as possible these ideals.
