26-04-11
(ASCA) - Rome, April 26 - Silvio Garattini, Director of the 'Mario Negri' Institute for Pharmacological Research, harshly criticizes the decision of the Grosseto hospital to welcome acupuncture, homeopathy and phytotherapy clinics in the issue of the weekly 'Oggi' on newsstands tomorrow.
“For some decades – he maintains – true medicine has been trying to move from impressions to tests, to avoid that the sick are treated without the reasonable certainty of receiving interventions that will lead to a benefit. The other medicine, on the other hand, is completely without evidence. Acupuncture is all under discussion also due to the many ways in which it can be performed; homeopathic products, for the most part, do not contain anything, phytotherapeutic products do not know 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. While the prices of medicines reimbursed by the National Health Service are the result of negotiations, homeopathic and phytotherapeutic products have the right to fix the price they want".
According to Garattini, “The path of the two medicines is also an attack on a precious asset: the National Health Service, whose sustainability over time is linked to the reimbursement of evidence-based treatments. It is good for politicians to reflect on the need to privilege rationality rather than chasing after everything that can bring consensus and votes”.
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