Agra: "People are increasingly going in for homeopathic treatment in India and in many countries. And there are good reasons behind the shift," said doctors at a homeopathic conference here. 

Contrary to general belief, more and more people are following homeopathy, even for cancer treatment at early stages. Since allopathy cannot cure all critical or chronic diseases, even after receiving chemotherapy treatment, many cancer patients now come to homeopaths, and get positive results, homeopathic doctors attending a four-day workshop-cum-conference that ended here Saturday highlighted.

Apart from India, homeopaths from a dozen other countries including Pakistan attended the conference.

Organised by Pareek Foundation for Research in Homeopathy, the conference outlined the new role of homeopathy as complementary and not as an alternative to various other forms of treatment including allopathy.

Dr Radhey Shyam Pareek, the doyen of homeopathy in north India, categorically stated that though it is perceived that German doctor Samuel Hahnemann invented homeopathy, the founding principles of homeopathy were well established in India thousands of years ago, in Ayurveda and in our spiritual sciences.

Dr Pareek also quoted scriptures from the Gita to assert that the principle of homeopathy was widely accepted even during the period of the Mahabharata.

Dr Gulam Sarwar, a Swiss homeopath of Pakistani origin, told sources that homeopaths were now documenting their cases and making notes, which would help standardise the treatment.

Russian homeopath Sergei Leonov told sources, "We need many more doctors and hospital facilities like India. For a big country like ours we have only 5,000 homeopaths. But our people are now more open to homeopathy. We have numerous success stories of early-stage cancer treatment".