Homeopathic clinics sprouting in UAE

Several Homeopathic clinics are sprouting throughout the UAE, with more expected in the immediate period ahead. Sharjah will likely see three clinics going operational this month, with Dubai set to see two, and Abu Dhabi one.

The development follows the government granting licences to seven streams of medicines since March, all grouped under Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicine (TCAM).

Apart from Homeopathy, the streams include Chiropractic, Ayurveda, Unani, Naturopathy, Osteopathy and Chinese medicine.

The move to award TCAM practitioners licences itself follows the Ministry of Health having established, through Ministerial Decree No 600 dated June 25, 2001, a Complementary and Alternative Medicine office.

While momentum was initially slow to build, possibly because this is the first time such a move has been contemplated in the UAE, it is now rapidly gaining strength.

"The ministry this year conducted four examinations, in February, June, October and November, with 42 having cleared in the first batch, and 20 each in the next two," explained Dr Swati Shah, who hopes to open her Homeopathic clinic in Sharjah shortly.

Dr Shah has been liaising closely with MoH officials, and has been among the prime movers seeking to regularise this branch of medicine in the UAE. An estimated 90 such TCAM practitioners today hold their evaluation papers, after successfully clearing the exams conducted by the ministry.

The way the system currently works is that when those already holding evaluation papers approach a clinic for employment or set up their own practice, their appointment letters are submitted to the ministry, which subsequently grant their licences after due scrutiny.

Hence an estimated 90 TCAM practitioners are currently waiting in the wings to either join clinics or hang up their own shingles on their doorways.

While recognising there is tremendous interest in alternative medicines, which sometimes effect cures traditional medicine cannot, the ministry has meanwhile streamlined the regulation of such practitioners at the outset, even as it has instituted a continuous review system.
The ministry-conducted exams will be held four times annually.