Hi Everyone.
So I had a conversation with a friend of mine recently about healthcare. Many Canadians have a deep hope that somehow there is a simple administrative fix for the many problems ailing public medicine in Canada.
I disagree unfortunately. As wonderful and noble an institution as Public Healthcare is, I cannot see an easy fix to the problems afflicting it, and I do not see it as being viable in the long term under the current circumstances.
The reason is simply the governing Philosophy that the vast majority of medical practitioners have nowadays. The vast majority of medical practitioners treat the body as if it was a very complex machine, rather than as a self regulating and self organized system.
The consequences of this philosophy are quite vast. Rather than seeing the actions of the body as an attempt to stabilize itself, they are seen as malfunctions, and usually suppressed. Naturopathic medicine has for centuries seen the suppression of acute symptoms as creating chronic disease. Recently research has begun to confirm this. Recently research has shown that consumption of acetaminophen in pregnancy seems to increase the risk of both Asthma and Autism. As well, other acute infectious disease, such as measles and mumps seem to offer many protective effects on, for instance, the development of Cardiovascular disease later in life. Undoubtedly, many other instances of this phenomenon exist.
Almost all the treatment received by individuals in Canada suppresses the bodies’ healing responses. Over time this will create, according to Naturopathic Theory and an increasing body of research, a high burden of Chronic disease. As long as this way of treatment dominates in public healthcare, chronic disease will continue to increase, leading to increased costs and the many problems in healthcare we see today.
I have maintained the solution to this problem is the adoption of Naturopathic philosophy, and Naturopathic Doctors into Healthcare. Through modalities such as Homeopathy, Acupuncture and Hydrotherapy, we can easily and safely treat acute disease, helping the body to accomplish the resolution of its problems, and reduce the burden of Chronic disease..