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From Alternative and Complementary
Medicine to integrative Medicines
november 29, 2018 by ÖGHM http://www.homoeopathie.at/kategorie/presseaussendungen/?
the Medical University of Vienna has recently discontinued its popular and well-attended homeopathy option, cancelling the ongoing courses.
The Medical University Rector University Professor Dr Markus Müller justified his action in discussion with the STANDARD on 27.11.2018, saying he took this step so that "the Med–Uni clearly distances itself from unscientific procedures and charlatanry". At the same time, the rector mentions that the head of the optional courses, University Professor Dr Michael Frass, is a recognised colleague.
University Professor Dr Frass is a specialist in internal medicine and internal intensive care medicine, and has been a university professor of medicine since 1994. He has published more than 200 scientific publications in numerous renowned journals. He is also the inventor of the oesophagal–tracheal Combitube in worldwide use. Since 2004, he has been in charge of the Special Outpatient Clinic for “Homeopathy in Malignant Diseases” in the Department of Internal Medicine.
The wording of the articles about the Medical University of Vienna and Homeopathy, published in the austrian media, suggests that there is a lack of knowledge about Integrative Medicine. A look across the Atlantic shows how renowned American universities have dealt with the phenomenon of “complementary medicine” in the last 25 years. After Eisenberg’s sensational article “Unconventional medicine in the United States — prevalence, costs, and patterns of use,” published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1993, USA saw the
creation of an Office for Alternative Medicine within the National Institute of Health. This office became an independent National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine in 1998 and, since 2012, it has been the Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine and Health. A recent guideline on breast cancer integrative oncology was published by Dr Heather Greenlee, a former president of the Society for Integrative Oncology, et al. and was also accepted by the American Cancer Society (ASCO).
In Europe, there are practically no public or university research funds allocated for the study of complementary medical methods. Yet it turns out in the 2009 European Partnership for Action Against Cancer (EPAAC) survey, initiated by the European Commission in 2009, that 40% of all European integrative medicine centres being studied would offer homeopathy.
We therefore demand that, as in the USA, complementary medicine continues to be taught and actively researched as part of Integrative Medicine, for the benefit of patients and according to the requirement in Section 2 of the University Act for "Freedom of Science and its Teaching".
For details of the scientific and legal basis of homeopathy (Austrian Medicines Act, EU–Directive 2001/83) please follow these links. http://www.homoeopathie.at/fakten-zur-homoeopathie http://www.aekh.at/medien/faktencheck-homoeopathie
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