Sweet remedies

Sonali Raha meets the first doctor in Dubai licensed by the Ministry of Health to practise homeopathy

"You have a sore throat and what does the allopathic doctor give you? An antibiotic. What is an antibiotic?" asks Dr Ludmila Vassilieva, MBBS, MD, Ph.D. She answers herself: "It means anti life. So you're having a medicine that is actually against life. That is why myself, my family, my friends, my animals, even my flowers, follow homeopathy."

Dr Ludmila is the first doctor in Dubai licensed by the Ministry of Health to practise homeopathy. She shares a clinic with her husband Dr Sergei Vassiliev, a surgical oncologist. Her interest in homeopathy goes back decades.

"I have been a medical doctor for 27 years," she continues, settling into a deep swivel chair in her spacious chamber in Dr Sergei Clinic, Al Maktoum Tower, Deira, Dubai.

"I qualified in general medicine from Ukraine Medical University. I was a general practitioner when I started doing scientific research in cardiology (particularly in microcirculation) for my Ph.D. I started to check the whites of the eyes because that is the only place in the body where you can study the blood vessels without cutting up anything."

Through this, she became interested in iridology - the study of the iris to diagnose disease - which she still uses to complement homeopathy.

"Then, over the years, I discovered that persons who use conventional medicines for a long time become more and more dependent on them. This leads to more side effects. The body gets more and more toxic and the condition becomes chronic.

"So I packed a suitcase and went off to study acupuncture, a (medical) line that has no side effects and does not intoxicate the system."

Dr Ludmila went to Kiev and studied acupuncture, a system of complementary medicine where fine needles are inserted in the skin at specific points along supposed lines of energy. She practised for some years and then felt the need for something more.