"When will wizards and witches in hospitals?" This is the provocative joke with which Silvio Garattini, director of the Mario Negri Institute in Milan, comments in the weekly Oggi on the decision of the hospital in Pitigliano (Grosseto) to welcome acupuncture, homeopathy and phytotherapy clinics. Alternative medicine, unlike official medicine, «is completely without evidence. Acupuncture is all under discussion also due to the many ways in which it can be performed; most homeopathic products contain nothing. The phytotherapeutic ones are not known exactly what they contain and can vary from preparation to preparation. There is no control, they have been put on the market only with a notification and they are not obliged to present any documentation that guarantees their effectiveness ». According to the pharmacologist, the principle based on the right of citizens to be free in the choice of therapies is not enough otherwise, says Garattini, "why not give space in the hospital also to witches, magicians and healers in whom a part of the public places great trust?". The response of the subjects called into question was immediate: "Hospitals and university clinics that provide complementary medicine services alongside classic medicine are present all over the world" says Simonetta Bernardini, president of the Italian Society of Homeopathy and Integrated Medicine (Siomi). «The purpose of Pitigliano, moreover, is precisely to start experiments useful for measuring the effectiveness of these medicines, particularly in chronic diseases, so-called precisely because they cannot be cured with conventional medicine alone». Thus Fabio Firenzuoli, Head of the Reference Center for Phytotherapy of the Tuscany Region: «In phytotherapy medicines are used, well regulated by Italian and European standards, both in the form of registered specialties with a lot of marketing authorization, and in the form of galenics, for which there is specific legislation. Patients but also colleagues must know that quality, safety and efficacy are guaranteed in phytotherapy, as for synthetic drugs». Finally, Franco Cracolici, vice president of the Italian Society of Acupuncture (SIA): «I practice acupuncture born 3,000 years ago, screened and verified by institutions such as the WHO, the NIH and the FDA. For this reason, the only interest I pursue is to try with legitimate means to help and support those who want to integrate allopathic medicine with a different and complementary method with a very low range of adverse reactions and practiced in a large number of public clinics».
Nicola Miglino – DoctorNews – April 27, 2011
