Openmindedness vs Scepticism
With everyone in a panic as COVID-19 spreads across the planet and in Kerala, debate in social media today turned interestingly towards the ethics in suggesting homeopathy and other alternative medicines as a possible treatment. I feel this is a good time to talk about what evidence based medicine is and how even modern medicine works compared to alternative forms of medicine. Evidence-based medicine means being totally open minded to new things while also being completely sceptical at the same time. Now this does not come naturally to anybody and it requires the right environment and guidance to develop these attitudes. And even then, biases can affect anybody, regardless of how respected they may be. Just take a look at the recent study looking at the use of Vitamin C and Thiamine in Septic Shock. The idea was put forward by a very well respected critical care physician. When questioned by doubters, he'd say something along the lines of "You only doubt it because you ha