Dr. Abdul Gafar-Prospects of Homeopathy in Dubai-UAE

<body> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: windowtext"><b> <font face="Arial" size="4">Prospects of Homeopathy in UAE<br> </font><font face="Arial" size="2">By Dr. Abdul Gafar with Dr. Sudin Kumar </font></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 22.7pt"> <span style="color: windowtext; font-weight: 700"><font size="2" face="Arial">Homeopathy in UAE is getting stronger by each day, being born in 2001.  It is a good thing to say that it is healthy and very much active, from our first hand experience. So far more than one hundred homeopaths are practicing in UAE. About thirty homeopaths are there in Dubai itself. Abu Dhabi and Sharjah being other major cities where many homeopaths can be found.</font></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 22.7pt"> <span style="color: windowtext; font-weight: 700"><font size="2" face="Arial">UAE Government approved practice of Homeopathy in the country in the beginning of 2001.  A separate section was established under UAE Ministry of Health (MOH) for Complementary and Alternative Medicines.  To allow these practitioners to work in UAE a qualifying examination (CAM exam) is held by MOH about three times a year, and so far more than 100 homeopaths have qualified to practice in UAE.</font></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: windowtext; font-weight: 700"> <font size="2" face="Arial">        For practicing in UAE first one needs a recognized qualification in homeopathy from their country of origin. After that they should get a license from the Ministry of Health (MOH) through the CAM exam. The procedure for the same is described below. After getting the license one should register with the respective local governments (municipalities) depending upon in which emirate of UAE you intent to practice and this registration one shall get only after getting the license from MOH. Remember that even after getting the above two documents one can do the practice only under an existing medical institution, obviously an allopathic one as there are no Homeopathic institutions there yet. For starting a separate individual Homeopathic clinic one should get a license for starting/running a clinic which is usually given to only UAE nationals and that also costs a hefty fee. <br> <br>          The MOH examination is of a simple structure but analyze in depth the capacity of the physicians.  It consists of two parts.  The first, a written examination for 100 marks is a mixture of MCQ and short-answer questions.  This is a common test for all the branches of complimentary and alternative medicines like Homoeopathy, Ayurveda, Unani, Acupuncture etc.  This is based on General Medicine and the questions are of good standard.  Those who clear this examination will be called for an interview, where a panel of experts (Allopathic and Homeopathic doctors) will judge the capacity of the candidate as a physician.  The Homeopathic knowledge is assessed in this part.  The successful doctors will be given an evaluation certificate with register numbers, which is the license to practice Homeopathy in UAE.  </font></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 22.7pt"> <span style="color: windowtext; font-weight: 700"><font size="2" face="Arial">For help in preparing for the examination it is best to have a thorough knowledge in Practice of Medicine based on Davidson’s and Harrison's textbook of Internal Medicine. For familiarizing with the MCQ it is advisable to go to the questions from <span style="text-decoration: none">'www.fleshandbones.com'</span> where a number of MCQs are given from Davidson’s as well as questions from US Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE). But remember that your practical knowledge is what counts, especially in the interview.  </font></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 22.7pt"> <font face="Arial"> <span style="color: windowtext; font-weight: 700"><font size="2">One has to submit the application in person at the MOH office in Abu Dhabi with all the documentary evidences (For details please contact <a target="main" href="chiefdtl.htm">our director</a>) and the prescribed fee (presently 50 UAE Dirham).  The candidates have to bear the travel and other expenses for the trip and also make their own arrangements for their visa. Further clarification about all these can also be had at the MOH website “www.moh.gov.ae”.  Please note that prior to applying for the exam one should get their </font></span><span style="font-weight: 700"><font size="2">qualification documents endorsed by the UAE embassy in their country. Finally one word of caution too the Ministry of Health is planning to make the examination procedure more strict and stringent by about 2007. So if any of you plan for an appearance make it the earliest.</font></span></font><span style="font-weight: 700"><font size="2" face="Arial"> </font></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 22.7pt"> <span style="color: windowtext; font-weight: 700"><font size="2" face="Arial">Even though the system got official blessings in UAE recently, Homeopathy was never a stranger in the peninsula.  Many people there depend on Homeopathy for their treatment.  While some of them bring medicines from their home countries a few go to clandestine (qualified) practitioners for this end.  </font></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 22.7pt"> <span style="color: windowtext; font-weight: 700"><font size="2" face="Arial">As all major cities of UAE are cosmopolitan in nature one get people of all walks and classes of life here.   So there is never a shortage of supporters to the system. It is reassuring to see that even the labor classes, who can't miss even a day of their work, come to Homeopathy for their ailments.  One another factor is that the common illnesses met with here like UTI, RTI, infertility, Headache and alopecia and all are responding wonderfully to the simple medicines.  The unique climate and life style being the main culprit, the task of the physician is made much easy.  </font></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 22.7pt"> <span style="color: windowtext; font-weight: 700"><font size="2" face="Arial">Another welcoming thing is the number of patrons coming up to sponsor Homeopathic clinics.  All the major healthcare establishments have started a Homeopathic section also along with their institutions.  The doctors who already cleared by MOH and started their practice here sounded enthusiastic and hopeful about the future.  The large Indian population also sounded relieved that at last they could get quality Homeopathic treatment nearby. </font></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 22.7pt"> <span style="color: windowtext; font-weight: 700"><font size="2" face="Arial">One minor obstacle yet to be overcome is the problem with dispensing medicines.  As of now no permission is given to freely dispense the medicines by the physicians.  Even if this is of vital importance to successful Homeopathic practice the doctors here have to depend on sealed bottles of pre-medicated pills of a fixed dose, which is to be dispensed as a whole to the patient.  The trouble with this is that often there won’t be the necessity of that much doses of medicine and it will eventually lead to over dosage.  Another one being the heavy cost of these sealed bottle preparations, which jeopardizes the very claim of cost effectiveness of the system.  </font></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 22.7pt"> <span style="color: windowtext; font-weight: 700"><font size="2" face="Arial">We hope the problems will be solved as the system grows up.  Once the results start coming up the system will sustain itself as it has done in many other countries and the obstacles will be melted away one by one. </font></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial"><span style="color: windowtext; font-style: italic"> <font size="2">[Dr.. Abdul Gafar, the Editor-in-Chief of Homoeopathic Medical Panorama along with Editor Dr. Sudin Kumar had an extensive tour in UAE in May2003. This article is brought in for the reference of all those who would like to sit for the MOH examination as well as those who like to know further about homeopathy in UAE.]</font></span><font size="2"> </font></font> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><b><font color="#0000FF">Dr. Abdul Gafar cleared the MOH exam with first rank and is now practicing homeopathy in Dubai. He is offering a package consisting of guidelines and tutorials to candidates who wish to sit for CAM (MOH) examination of UAE. <br> </font><font color="#FF0000">For more details contact - E-mail: </font> <font color="#0000FF"><a href="mailto:chief@homeoweb.com"><font color="#FF0000"> chief@homeoweb.com</font></a><font color="#FF0000">, Ph: +971-50-4699659</font></font></b></font></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i><font size="2">The original article is published in '<a href="http://www.homedpa.com/" style="text-decoration: none">Homoeopathic Medical Panorama</a>' of April-June 2003 issue.</font></i></p> <p align="center"><b> <a title="Homeoweb Homepage" target="_parent" href="http://www.homeoweb.com"> <img border="0" src="Homeoweb%20homepage.gif" width="24" height="28"></a>     <a title="Homeoweb Site map" target="main" href="site_map.htm"> <img border="0" src="Dr.%20Abdul%20Gafar%20Site_map.GIF" width="31" height="29"></a></b><br> <font face="Arial" size="2"><b>This page uses frames, but your browser doesn't support them. <br> So using the buttons given above go to home page or use the site map for navigation.</b></font></p> </body>