Thumbs up for leech therapy

2005-08-24 12:48

New Delhi - India's health ministry has decided to recognise and market leech therapy for a range of diseases from arthritis to haematomas, a newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The department of unani medicine under the ministry is planning to come out with a set of standard procedures for leech therapists by October, the Times of India said.

Unani is a traditional form of medicine of Graeco-Arabic origin practised widely in South Asia and the Middle East.

Clinical trials at the ministry's unani research institute in Srinagar, the capital of Jammu and Kashmir state, have been completed.

Leeches were applied to affected joints of more than 35 patients suffering from arthritis, said Mohammed Khalid Siddiqui, director of India's central council for research in unani medicine. He claimed there was considerable reduction in pain and swelling for all patients.

Leech therapy backed by clinical trials

Similar trials had been carried out for frostbite, hypertension, haematomas and migraines. Of 23 people in the trial for chronic frostbite, five developed symptoms last winter after undergoing leech therapy, Siddiqui said.

Four leeches were kept under the ears of 25 patients suffering from hypertension and their blood pressure was reduced in all the cases, he said.

"Its cheap, safe and efficient," said senior health ministry official Shiv Basant. "Now, it's even backed by successful clinical trials."

The move to recognise the therapy was also part of efforts to weed out quacks, he added.

"Leeching is an established part of unani medicine, but with so many practitioners trying their own method, regulation in practice is a necessity," Siddiqui said.

Unani medical practices draw directly on the works of ancient Greek physicians Hippocrates and Galen. They, in turn, were influenced by Babylonian physicians who treated patients for a variety of ailments almost 4 000 years ago. - Sapa-dpa

- SAPA