Stuttgart. Homeopathy training will be abolished in Baden-Württemberg. The representative meeting of the Baden-Württemberg State Medical Association voted on Saturday in Stuttgart for a corresponding adjustment to the regulations for further training. 52 delegates voted in favor of the abolition, 31 against and nine representatives abstained.
In the next step, the Ministry of Social Affairs of Baden-Württemberg will examine the legal formality of the procedure. At the beginning of the process, the Minister of Social Affairs, Manfred Lucha (Greens), stated that in view of the planned abolition of an “absolute wrong sign” spoken. Mayor Dr. Wolfgang Miller, however, sounded optimistic in a statement: The chamber “treated the issue of homeopathy with the utmost care and carried out the legally required procedural steps with the necessary rigor.”
Final appeal through open letter
Just before the VV vote, there were over 100 doctors in a open letter advocates for further training. This is the only way to ensure that “a competent decision is made as to whether conventional treatment is indicated or whether homeopathic treatment may be an additional option,” the letter states.
The German Central Association of Homeopathic Physicians (DZVhÄ) was disappointed on Saturday. “The delegates spoke out against therapeutic pluralism and also against freedom of therapy,” said general practitioner Dr. Michaela Geiger, chairwoman of the DZVhÄ and delegate of the representative collection. She announced that they would “take all democratic steps within the medical profession in order to anchor homeopathy in the regulations for further training again.”
However, the representatives have already had the opportunity to form a detailed opinion in a process that lasted two years. After the representative meeting in The process was initiated in the summer of 2022 the chamber gave supporters and opponents the opportunity to have their say in a widely implemented process.
This has included formats that include public participation, most recently in March of this year. moderated discussion between two doctors about the pros and cons exclusion. The number of doctors in Baden-Württemberg who completed additional training in homeopathy was recently less than five per year.
Now, 15 of the 17 chambers have voted for abolition
On the occasion of the VV decision, the Chamber emphasizes that in future the treatment of patients in Baden-Württemberg with homeopathic methods and remedies will not be restricted or prohibited. This also does not prohibit doctors from indicating the corresponding focus of their activities on the practice sign or on the Internet in their external representation. Doctors may also continue to undertake further training in homeopathic treatments, methods and remedies.
The Baden-Württemberg State Medical Association is the 15th of 17 chambers nationwide to remove additional training in homeopathy from the training regulations. Only Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony have not yet taken this step. (first)