Proposals for investment for homeopathy education sector at the Global Investors' Meet, Bangalore, 2010

The following are possible domains for investment in homeopathy sector –

· Establishment of homeopathy undergraduate course with global healthcare thrust in the ‘Special Education Zone’

· Starting Finishing School for providing clinical softskills and clinical decision skills for homeopathy graduates

· Providing opportunities for the scholars of MD Family Medicine from US universities to undertake their internship in homeopathy as Integrative Medicine

Homeopathy graduate course

Prelude

Homeopathy is accepted as credible healing system across the globe. Statistics provided by World Health Organisation place homeopathy as the most preferred among Complementary and Alternative Systems of Medicine. Currently homeopathy education is strewn into a varied mosaic of courses across the globe. This has created a chaotic and inconsistent state on a global scale. The mounting demand for homeopathy healthcare services place on the stakeholders of homeopathy to construct a globally acceptable brand of homeopathy education.

Situational analysis:

Epidemiological studies reveal that there is diversity in morbidity prevalence across the globe. Health cultures prevalent across the globe have a heterogeneous composition. Further, the geopolitical values of population dictate a medley of healthcare preferences. The constraint for uniform education brand might also stem from variations in each nation’s education system and differing thrust / focus on national healthcare policies.

However, uniformity for homeopathy education on a global scale is plausible, considering the all embracing need to realise Millennium Development Goals, of which healthcare is a major component, common baseline that is evolved for heath indicators of the entire population and unvarying nature of homeopathy principles. Further, English as the globally accepted medium of communication add the edge for homeopathy education as the significant majority of homeopathy educational resources are available in English language.

Proposal:

Therefore, it is proposed to start a globally acceptable and applicable homeopathy graduate course. This course may be operated under the provisions of ‘Special Educational Zone’, thus enabling the service providers with the leverage to design a universally compatible curriculum. This would also ensure that the globally accepted standards are factored in without the interference of bureaucratic hassles.

Such a course would find ready acceptance not only among the Indian population who have a basic medical qualification, but are interested to practice homeopathy, but also the NRI sector and the foreign nationals having interest to align with homeopathy bandwagon.

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Finishing school for homeopathy graduates

Prelude

Formal education in homeopathy sector, as in any other higher education spectrum is heavily laden with knowledge component. Even though there is huge popular patronisation for homeopathy, the average homeopathy graduates are very often falling short of excellence in their performance. Many of the practitioners are aware of this inadequacy, but are at a loss to bridge the gap on their own, or to identify the resource that can help them overcome this challenge.

Situational analysis:

Many studies have revealed that the outcomes of higher education are not industry compatible. Studies in the western countries have brought to light that the communication proficiency of health professionals has to be improved on a priority basis. These observations hold true for homeopathic graduates also. In fact the lack of clinical softskills is a major hurdle for many brilliant homeopaths to survive and thrive in private practice.

With 184 homeopathy colleges and around 3000 homeopathic graduates passing out each year, there is a huge market potential to capitalise on.

Proposal:

Therefore, there is a significant space in the homeopathy education sector to establish a ‘Finishing School’ that would impart clinical softskills and clinical decision making skills.

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Internship in homeopathy for scholars of MD Family Medicine

Prelude

Family Medicine is a speciality of conventional medicine in the US health education system. This has a component of Integrative Medicine in some of the universities like University of Arizona, University of Wisconsin, etc. Further, there is increasing interest among western medical graduates to learn firsthand about the tropical diseases.

Situational analysis:

The increasing insistence by western population for rational drug therapy is driving conventional medical practitioners to seek feasible alternatives. Homeopathy ranks favourably in the list of complementary therapies among the practitioners. Karnataka has strong credentials for homeopathy clinical training in both government and private sectors

Proposal:

Therefore, it makes a logical sense to invest in the establishment of training facility to provide resources on homeopathy in community health and also the role of homeopathy in topical medicine.