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Regulation of Homeopathic Medicine
The re-regulation of homeopathy in Ontario and Canada was the vision
of the founder
of the Homeopathic College of Canada (HCC) Dr. Fernando Anía. In
1991 Dr. Anía
founded the first North American institution (and still the only
one) with a four-year full
time program for homeopathic education. Dr. Anía’s vision was based
on The Medical
Act (1970), which stated:
“Until a homeopathic medical college for teaching purposes is
established in Ontario, candidates
wishing to be registered as homeopathists shall possess the
supervision of a duly registered homeopathic
practitioner."
After the first steps of establishing a teaching institution for
higher learning of
homeopathic medicine in 1992, Dr. Anía founded the Ontario
Homeopathic Association
(OHA) and in 1995 the national association the Homeopathic Medical
Council of Canada
(HMCC). In 2001 its provincial branch of Ontario, the Homeopathic
Medical Council of
Canada Ont. was incorporated.
At present, a great emphasis must be placed in the fact that
homeopathy as of 2012,
is still unregulated. That is, anybody can claim to be a homeopathic
practitioner and
anybody can open a homeopathic school or association.
During the years from 1992 to1995 the re-regulation efforts
continued by Dr. Anía
as president of both the Homeopathic College of Canada (HCC) and the
OHA which
culminated with his writing of the official document for the
regulation of homeopathy. In
1999 Dr. Anía as Chair of the governmental affairs of the OHA
submitted his document
to the Ontario government soliciting the regulation of homeopathic
medicine. This
document was resubmitted to the government in 2005. In 2007 the
Ontario government
finally proclaimed the Law and the creation of the Transitional
Council of the College
of Homeopaths of Ontario. However, the Law is not to be implemented
until 2013. Until
then, homeopathy will be unregulated.
From 1992 Dr. Anía encountered great opposition to his efforts
towards the homeopathic
regulation. At the beginning the opposition came from the government
itself and the
medical profession, mainly unaware of what homeopathy was about. It
was not until
the beginning of 2000’s when the Ontario government was showing
serious interest in
regulating the profession, that the opposition for the regulation of
homeopathy began
to come from different homeopaths, all opposing the HCC. By that
time, there were
about 6 or 7 different groups, associations and schools; a full
infighting was going on,
creating a deep division among the homeopaths with very different
ethics and standards.
Interestingly, all the groups, except the HCC, were against the
regulation and opposed
the standards set by Dr. Anía, afraid of falling off the regulatory
wagon and losing their
businesses.
Due to the fact that homeopathy had been unregulated, different
schools of homeopathy
were created in Ontario, mainly in Toronto. An ironic example of the
unregulated state of
this profession is that on four different occasions, some students
of the HCC abandoned
their scholastic year and opened their own schools without being
certified professionals.
These new schools with different standards of ethics and education
in homeopathy,
created much confusion. While these new schools and others were
created, different
associations had appeared recognizing them over the other schools.
Thus, infighting
broke out between the different associations and schools.
In 2001 at an extraordinary board meeting, the Board of the HCC
broke all the
professional relationships with both the OHA and the HMCC. The HCC
decided
not to be related to either in any way. The HCC does not recognize
or recommend
neither the OHA nor the HMCC. At present, each association continues
to recognize
a different “school”. The HCC will continue to set up only the
highest ethical and
professional standards for the betterment of the profession.
In 2010 the Ontario government established the Transitional Council
of the College
of Homeopaths of Ontario. It is interesting to note that the
government appointed to
the Council some members who had previously fiercely opposed the
regulation of
homeopathic medicine (sic). Therefore we, as a teaching institution,
cannot wait to see
the final standards of the profession. The truth is, that in
homeopathic medicine there is
no possible compromise in the education, clinical training and
teaching of its students.
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