|
PRINCE
CHARLES is working on a personal remedy for the ills of the NHS, with plans
to help build a model hospital that would tap into the power of alternative
therapy.
It will train doctors
to combine conventional medicine and alternative treatments, such as
homeopathy, Ayurvedic medicine and acupuncture, and will have up to 100
beds.
The prince's
intervention marks the culmination of years of campaigning by him for the
NHS to assign a greater role to alternative medicine. In a recent speech he
urged the NHS not to dismiss it as a "woolly cul-de-sac".
Groups interested in alternative
medicine are delighted at the news. Teresa Hale, founder of the Hale Clinic
in London, said: "Twenty-five years ago people said we were quacks.
Now several branches, including homeopathy, acupuncture and osteopathy,
have gained official recognition."
The proposed hospital,
which is due to open in London in 2003 or early 2004, is to be overseen by
Mosaraf Ali, who runs the Integrated Medical Centre (IMC) in London. He is
also responsible for raising finance for its construction.
|
 
|
|
Fashionable
remedy: Geri Halliwell and Kate Moss, supporters of alternative medicine
|
Ali's clients are said
to include the prince and celebrities such as Geri Halliwell and Kate Moss.
Earlier this year Ali, who trained as a doctor in Delhi and Moscow,
accompanied Camilla Parker Bowles on a trek to the Himalayas to
"re-energise" her spirits and encourage her to give up smoking.
The prince has held
exploratory talks with Ali over the past six months about giving official
royal support to the hospital. This weekend Ali was in India and
unavailable for comment, but Eleanor Stoikov, his clinical manager, said:
"The prince is giving support, but not in a financial way."
A spokesman for St
James's Palace said: "It is an interesting proposition and they have
had private discussions on the matter. The prince has argued for some time
for a greater role for integrated medicine."
He added that the
prince had set up the Foundation for Integrated Medicine in 1996, and
provided it with £2m of funding. It is thought that the prince's foundation,
based in east London, is providing advice to Ali.
Alternative therapy
tends to be more expensive than conventional medicine. Critics have pointed
to its failure to cure serious diseases and to match the leaps in clinical
techniques.
The late John Diamond,
the writer who died of cancer, stated: "More and more people [are]
discovering the true secret of alternative medicine: it doesn't work."
He added: "How many herbalists came up with a cure for a single form
of cancer? You can count them on the fingers of one foot."
Ali's methods of
diagnosis are unconventional. He inspects patients' tongues and believes
ears reveal whether someone is suffering from any inflammation. Ali has
described ears as "upside-down embryos".
The prince was
introduced to the holistic approach to life by the late Laurens van der
Post, and began a campaign in 1982 to persuade the medical establishment to
form closer links to complementary medicine. He was aware of public
ridicule, asking one official: "Do people think I am a crank?"
after he meditated in public.
He has taken advantage
of alternative therapies to ameliorate the effects of a series of injuries
from polo and skiing and a recurrent disc problem. Since 1988 the prince
has enlisted Sarah Key, an Australian physiotherapist and osteopath, who
detects back pain through her heels, to help soothe his polo injuries.
An eclectic group of
healers, fixers and gurus has long surrounded other members of the royal
family. The queen is said to carry homeopathic remedies with her at all
times, and the late Diana, Princess of Wales made use of yoga, reflexology
and massage.
The country's 36,000
GPs are now outnumbered by the estimated 50,000 complementary and
alternative medicine (CAM) practitioners.
There are signs that
mainstream practice is moving closer to the prince's wishes. Earlier this
year the NHS executive approved an £18.4m scheme to renovate the Royal
London homeopathic hospital (RLHH), its principal complementary medicine
provider.
Next
page: Data-grab hackers steal credit card details in bulk
|
