The King selected a doctor who advocates the use of homeopathic remedies to head the royal family's medical department.
Dr Michael Dixon is a practicing general practitioner who argues that traditional treatments can play an important role in patient care.
The Palace confirmed that Dr Dixon heads the Royal Medical Institution, the medical arm that provides support to the King.
The doctor previously served as the King's medical advisor during his time as Prince Charles, when it was well-documented that he supported the complementary use of homeopathic medicine in conjunction with other treatments.
Dr. Dixon has long been an advocate of complementary or “integrative” approaches, writing a paper in 1999 stating that seeing a spiritual healer is “an effective way to treat chronically ill patients in general practice.” It could be a supplementary measure.”
In 2006, Dr Dixon opposed NHS proposals to cut funding for alternative medicine, saying: 'Clinical greats are telling those of us who have to deal with everyday human suffering what to do. It shouldn't be done.”
This public statement was made while Dr. Dixon was chairman of the Prince's Foundation for Integrative Health, a charity established by the King that advocates the complementary use of homeopathic and allopathic medicines. .
Dr Dixon's advocacy of homeopathy follows a speech by the then Prince of Wales at a World Health Organization conference in Geneva, in which he emphasized the need to maintain balance and harmony in our minds, bodies and spirits. He praised healing practices rooted in ancient traditions that intuitively understood the Natural world”.
If you get results with homeopathy, you should use it.
Dr Dixon, who replaced Professor Sir Hugh Thomas as Head of the Royal Medical Household, further defended the inclusion of homeopathic practice in NHS treatment in 2012, saying: “The NHS's mission is to improve the health of the population” and can also treat people who are sick or disabled.
“We should not abandon patients who cannot be helped by conventional scientific medicine. If homeopathy is providing results for those patients, then of course we should continue to use homeopathy.”
The doctor is chairman of the medical school that grew out of the Prince Foundation for Integrative Health, which aims to fight disease “with all the medical tools available to us without discrimination.”
Dr Dixon and the King have been criticized for supporting homeopathy, with Professor Edzard Ernst, Britain's first professor of alternative medicine, declaring in 2018: in the best interests of the patient.
He added: “The quality of the research is not only bad, it's deplorable. It ignores the harm. There's a whole shelf full of garbage being sold, and it's completely unethical.”
Buckingham Palace confirmed Dr Dixon's appointment yesterday, saying he is a practicing physician, a Fellow of the Royal College of General Practitioners and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians.
The statement states: Dixon does not believe that homeopathy can cure cancer. His position is that complementary therapies can be used alongside conventional treatments as long as they are safe, appropriate and evidence-based.
“As Prince of Wales, the King's position on complementary therapies, integrative health and patient choice is well-documented. In his own words: 'This is a very important decision to make in favor of other treatments.' It's not about rejecting conventional medicine. The term complementary medicine is exactly what it says.”
