Prince Charles defiant over alternative medicine after doctors' attack.

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Prince defiant over alternative medicine after doctors' attack By Jenny Booth and Mark Hendersonhttp://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2193562.html Excerpts: Doctors have criticised the Prince's initiatives on complementary medicine, but he stuck to his guns in a speech today The Prince of Wales today issued an impassioned plea for alternative medicine to be given a bigger place in the mainstream, hours after a group of Britain's leading doctors issued their own appeal for the NHS to to stop paying for complementary therapies. The Prince addressed the annual meeting of the World Health Organisation in Geneva, arguing that an integrated, holistic approach was the best way of tackling chronic disease, rather than a "dangerously fragmented" approach that relied just on what he called the bio-physical treatment model. While not detracting from modern medicine, which he said had served humanity well, he criticised excessive reliance on it for upsetting natural harmony. "I believe there is now a desperately urgent need to redress the fragile but vital balance between man and nature, through a more

integrated approach where the best of the ancient is blended with the best of the modern, and I am convinced this is particularly vital when it comes to the collective health of people in all our countries," he told the WHO delegates from 192 nations. But in a direct challenge to the Prince's campaign, 13 British doctors and scientists issued an open letter to NHS trusts that said public funding of "unproven or disproved treatments" such as homoeopathy and reflexology were unacceptable while huge deficits are forcing trusts to sack nurses and limit access to life-saving drugs. The Prince did not fuel the row by referring to the letter in his speech to the WHO this afternoon. He did however stick to his guns, saying that increasing numbers of alternative therapies - including acupuncture for osteo-arthritis of the knee,

the use of St John's Wort for mild depression - were being shown in clinical trials to have therapeutic effects. And he singled out his Foundation for Integrated Medicine for praise, saying that for the last 11 years it had been the leading champion of the integrated approach to health treatment. This involved harnessing both modern and traditional therapies, looking at social and environmental influences, and empowering the patient by involving him in his own treatment, he said. "I say that a mix of modern and traditional remedies that emphasises the participation of the patient can create a powerful healing force," said the Prince. "It seems to be that in our ceaseless rush to modernise, many tried and tested methods which have shown themselves to be effective have been cast aside as old-fashioned or irrelevant to today's needs." The Department of

Health does not keep figures on the total NHS spending on alternative medicine, but Britain’s total market is estimated at £1.6 billion. The doctors' dismissal of homeopathy has drawn a heated response from practitioners who say anecdotal evidence from thousands of relieved patients cannot be ignored. Professor George Lewith, from the Centre for Complementary and Integrated Medicine, said: "People are happy to pay for complementary medicines because it makes them feel better, even though they are only 10 per cent more effective than placebo. Maybe the 13 doctors have forgotten that the conventional treatments for asthma, depression and irritable bowel are also only about 10 per cent better than placebo." Britons currently spend £130 million a year on complementary treatments, such as acupuncture, herbalism and

reflexology. "Our ideal is not the spirituality that withdraws from life but the conquest of life by the power of the spirit." - Aurobindo.

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