President confers Homeopathy awards

The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee presented Dr. Malati Allen Noble Award, Dr. Sarkar Allen Mahatma Hahnemann Award and Dr. Sankar Allen Swamiji Award instituted by the Dr. Malati Allen Charitable Trust to the recipients in various categories in Kolkata, West Bengal.

Speaking on the occasion, the President said that the efforts undertaken by Dr. Malati Allen Charitable Trust and the Dr. Sarkar Allen Mahatama Hahnemann and Swamiji Trust in encouraging and strengthening the education and practice of Homeopathy are praiseworthy.

The President said that as an alternate system of medicine along with the indigenous Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani, Homeopathy has an important role in our country. Apart from the obvious advantages that Homeopathy has because of low cost of treatment, recent trends that establish limitations of the allopathic system of medicine such as side effects, etc, has increasingly made homeopathy and other systems of alternate medicine an attractive and feasible option for many patients. Similarly, the limitations of allopathic medicine in addressing chronic diseases have led to more and more people looking for alternate options.

The President said that Homeopathy has had a long and successful history in India, especially in Bengal. Brought in by a Romanian, Dr. John Martin Honigberger in 1835 to the Court of Maharaja of Patiala, it flourished when he shifted to Calcutta and fast became known as the ‘Cholera Doctor’ for his treatment of the dreaded disease. The names of Dr. Mahendra Lal Sircar, Babu Rajen Dutta, Dr. P.C. Majumdar, Dr. V.L. Bhaduri and Dr. B.N. Banerjee apart from many others are primary in establishing Homeopathy in India. The first Homeopathy college in India in 1878 was also the Calcutta Homeopathy Medical College. After systematic neglect from the colonial administration, it was Sir Satish Chandra Samanta, MP from West Bengal who first moved to establish the Central Council of Homeopathy in 1948.

The President congratulated all individuals including those from Bangladesh who received the awards and wished them success in all their future endeavours. He also informed the gathering that Rashtrapati Bhavan has also established an AYUSH Clinic pertaining to various traditional systems of medicine and an ever increasing number of people are availing the facilities.