Dubai: More Arab patients in the UAE are opting for alternative medicine instead of traditional care to avoid side-effects of modern medicine, health experts said on Monday.

Homeopathy treatment, recognised as the second largest system of medicine in the world by the World Health Organisation, is increasingly being recognised in the UAE for its efficacy in treating chronic diseases using unconventional methods free of side effects.

Due to prevalence of allergies, hair loss and lifestyle ailments like diabetes in the UAE, Dr Mukesh Batra who opened a new homeopathy clinic Monday in Dubai, said the alternative medicine market has grown substantially in the recent years.

“Homeopathy is based on vaccination therapy,” Dr Batra said on the sidelines of the event. “It allows body to build up natural immunity and makes people healthy. It takes mind and body together and also understands many physical problems in today’s world such as emotional and mental issues and things that are stress related,” he said.

The main principle of homeopathy holds that a method of treating disease with small amounts of remedies can, in large amounts given to healthy people, produce symptoms similar to those being treated.

While homeopathy is traditionally popular among Indians expatriates in the UAE, Dr Batra, who has a chain of homeopathic clinics, including four in the UAE operating in the last six years, said his clinics have been receiving increased local interest lately.

“Currently, locals account for 20 per cent of the clinic’s practice, with others including Indians accounting for the remaining 80 per cent. The treatment is growing 25 per cent to 30 percent around the world, even in Dubai.”

Lots of women and children are among those opting for homeopathy treatment for allergies and hair problems, he said. “Homeopathy has been able to treat all kinds of problems, including cancer, but many patients visit the clinic for chronic problems here such as hair loss, pigmentation, migraines, psoriasis, whit patches, eczema, vitiligo, dark pigmentation, allergies, nasal allergies, depression anxiety,” he said.

Cases he presented showed that some patients were cured from severe hair loss, like alopecia, lumps, and sterility all through using natural medication and by investigating the root of each problem.

Dr Usha Khatri, the clinic’s manager, said they handle a 1 million patient database all across their 221 clinics around the world and have brought the latest technologies for investigations of patients. Some included a 3D scanner camera that scans 3mm below the skin to discover the changes happening underneath.

Khatri said, with the database they manage, if there was an outbreak, like swine, they can inform patients prior in time to receive preventive medicine so they don’t fall sick.

“Homeopathy treatment takes individualized approaches for each patient,” she explained. “This means if a patient has a headache, the treatment is different for each patient depending upon their past history, stress levels, medical conditions.”