Musician Emily Li Kit-yiu was struck with diarrhoea, chronic bronchitis and colds so often that she became exhausted with repeated visits to the doctor. She also suffered from chronic shoulder pain, fatigue and insomnia.
A chance encounter with homeopathy last year changed all that. 'The chronic ailments that had afflicted me for years went away after three treatments by the homeopath,' she says.
Li, 43, is so taken with homeopathy that she took a course to learn about the alternative medicine. She has since become an armchair homeopath who prescribes remedies for herself and her friends. 'I have not paid any visits to the doctor since I took up homeopathy,' she says.
Dramatic accounts of miraculous recoveries like Li's are common among those who believe in the efficacy of homeopathy. But it is often regarded as quackery among the medical profession. That's because clinical studies do not prove the efficacy of the highly diluted substances that homeopaths say trigger internal healing processes.
Of the dozen systematic reviews of homeopathy published so far, most conclude the remedies are no different from a placebo.
In spite of the criticism, homeopathic medicine is the second most widely used therapeutic system in the world, according to the World Health Organisation. The practice commands a large following in India, Canada and Europe. In countries such as Britain and America, practitioners must have undergraduate medical training before they specialise in homeopathy.