Page 15 - Spring 13

Veterinary homeopathy in Spain
Veterinary homeopathy in Spain began its dissemination in the 80s. Prior to this time, in the nineteenth century, there was only knowledge oftwoworksofF.A.GUNTHERinCastilianlanguage:"Fulltreatmentin Homeopathic Veterinary Medicine" (translated by Marzo and Casas, 1850) and "New Manual of Homeopathic Veterinary Medicine" (translat- ed by Peter Saguer, 1886).
In 1984 the veterinary professor Dr. Concepción García Botey intro- duced homeopathy as a therapy in rehabilitation at the Veterinary College of Complutense Madrid University. In 1986 the veterinary sur- geonDr.CoralMateoSánchezstartedstudyinghomeopathyafterher first contact with this therapy in Vienna (Austria). In 1988, at the “4th CongressoftheEuropeanAssociationforVeterinaryPharmacologyand Toxicology(EAVPT)”inBudapest,Dr.DiegoSantiagoLaguna(Professor at the “Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Legal Medicine”, Córdoba University), presented the experimental study: “Open field assayofhomeopathicpreparationsofHyosciamusniger,Daturastramo- niumandOenanthecroccata”.BoironandPhinterLaboratoriesstarted conductingcoursesaimedatphysicians,pharmacistsandveterinary surgeons. In 1991, Drs Jose Ramón Torre Blázquez and Sara Lorda Aguarónstudiedthemethodofthe“ArgentineCollegeofHomeopathy”.
Asthedecadeprogressedtheexpansionofveterinaryhomeopathy began due to IAVH courses in Zaragoza, coordinated by Dr. Peter Andersen,withteachersasCarlosFerro,FrancoiseMadin,Orsi,Silvia García(Lab.Iberhome),JoseRamonTorreBlázquezandCoralMateo Sánchez. Later,theVeterinaryCollegeofZaragozaUniversityincludedafreeelec- tion subject, thanks to the acceptance of courses previously organised therebyprofessorDr.OliviaGironés,andtaughtbyDr.CoralMateoin collaborationwithDr.JoseRamonTorreBlázquez,Dr.SilviaGarcia,Dr. Joelle Cuesta Briand and Dr. Maria Rodriguez Somoano.
In1999,theBasqueCountryUniversityimpartedamasterdegreein "HomeopathyandHealth"forveterinarysurgeonsandphysicians.The first part in the veterinary area is coordinated by Dr. Sara Lorda and the secondpart,byDr.CoralMateoSánchez.Duringtheseyearstheuniver- sities began to teach master degrees of specialisation in homeopathy, where veterinarians were qualified along with doctors and pharmacists in the universities of Barcelona, Sevilla, Valladolid and Zaragoza (University of Zaragoza is the only in Spain that possess a chair in Homeopathy)
In2004,wasestablishedtheSEHV(SpanishSocietyofVeterinary Homeopathy), which set the study and dissemination of veterinary homeopathyasoneofitsmainobjectives,anditsintroductionasanoffi- cial subject in the Veterinary Colleges of Spain. Every year since its establishment, this society presided by Coral Mateo Sánchez and its vice-president Jose Ramón Torre, has been teaching at a “Veterinary Homeopathy Intensive Course” – duration of one week, in March or April, and the “Advanced Course in Veterinary Homeopathy” in
September. These courses are only lectured by veterinarians for veteri- narians and amongst the lecturers are Spanish professors (Coral Mateo, José Ramón Torre and María R. Somoano (Secretary of SEHV) and European professors (Dr. Duport, Dr. Boutonnet). In future, due to the extraordinaryinterestforveterinarycoursesorganisedbytheSEHV,they will continue to grow each year internationally.
Following the path of the Veterinary College of Zaragoza University, where veterinary homeopathy is an optional subject, other universities in Spain like the Autonoma of Barcelona (2008), Córdoba (2008), León (2008), Santiago de Compostela (2009) and Complutense of Madrid (2009) introduced homeopathy in its educational program, in which aftermanyyearsofwork,CoralMateoimplementedherdidacticmethod and every year she is adding new seminars – also at the Illustrious VeterinaryCollegesofZaragoza,Cordoba,Lugo,Asturias,Cantabriaand Madrid.
At the present time BarcelonaUniversity:theAMHB-IL3,offersMasterdegreesinspeciali- sationinveterinaryhomeopathy,coordinatedbyCoralMateoSanchez. CordobaUniversityoffersaseriesoffourcoursesinveterinaryhomeop- athy. These are approved like professional permanent training courses oftheUniversityofCordobaandtheyareconductedonceperyearuntil 2014.ItisaprograminspiredbythecoursestaughtbyDrCoralMateo for years at the veterinary colleges. These courses have a continuous programwheredidacticmaterialisnotrepeated.Ineverycourse,there areclassesdedicatedtothehomeopathicmethodologyandtothecom- parative study of the Materia Médica, discussing real pathological cases.
Furthermore, each course contains material on, from a holistic approach,thespecificpathologiesofoneormoreorganicandphysio- logicfunctionalsystemsinsmallanimalsandinoneofthemostrelevant domestic animal species. We study also the specific pathologic prob- lemsofthechosenspecies,lookingforprophylacticandhealingsolu- tionsfromthehomeopathicapproach.
These courses in veterinary homeopathy in Cordoba are taught by veterinarianstoveterinariansregardingcompanionanimalsandlive- stock and also like SEHV. Every year, homeopathic specialists in small animal practice and organic farming are attending, both Spanish (Dr. Isabel Serrano, Dr. Coral Mateo, Professor Diego Santiago) and European (Dr. Striezel, Dr. Bolbecher, Dr . Wesselmann, Dr. Kohlrausch). Through these courses, in Spain, we can count many experts in veteri- naryhomeopathybothinsmallanimalmedicineandtreatmentoforgan- ic livestock, such as Dr. Andrés Bidarte, Dr. Carmelo Garcia Romero (ADGE,AssociationfortheDevelopmentofOrganicFarming)andDr. Oscar Garcia Barrero.
María Rodríguez Somoano (Secretary of SEHV Gijón, December 2012)
13