More and more people living in the Netherlands are turning to telegraaf, an alternative medicine and treatment method. report Based on figures requested from Statistics Netherlands (CBS). Last year, more than 1 million people in the Netherlands used some form of alternative treatment, up from 890,000 in 2018.
The most widely used alternative healers are acupuncturists, osteopaths, and chiropractors. Faith healers and herbalists are also very popular. However, according to the paper, there will also be red light therapy, drinking irradiated water, and exorcisms.
Women with higher levels of education are most likely to choose alternative medicine in combination with conventional treatment.
Although there is no scientific basis for alternative medicine, it generally does not cause much harm, Catherine de Jong, an anesthesiologist and director of the Anti-Incally Society (VTK), told the newspaper. “As long as no one is kept away from regular care.
She is primarily concerned about seriously ill and desperate people going to faith healers or natural healers. She says these types of healers are often dishonest about the results they can achieve. “For example, they promise they can actually cure someone’s cancer.” Alternative healers can say what they want, she says. Real doctors are not allowed to do that and can only provide information about the effectiveness of treatments and risks and side effects.
“The problem is that anyone can call themselves an alternative healer, practitioner or therapist,” Martin Buysen, a health law professor at Erasmus University Rotterdam, told the paper. “You don’t need to study. Just put up a sign in your yard and get started.”
He stressed that alternative healers are not allowed to advise sick people not to seek regular medical care. “If a cancer patient goes to a faith healer, it is unacceptable for such a preacher to tell that patient not to go to the hospital again,” Buisen said. It is a punishable crime.
However, charges are only brought if someone is seriously injured or charged. That rarely happens, he thinks. Patients either continue to believe in the curative effects of the treatment or, if disillusioned, become embarrassed and try to forget everything.
