A recent Instagram reel shared by students of Parul University's homoeopathy department has ignited a contentious debate among medical professionals regarding the efficacy and legitimacy of homoeopathy as a medical system.

The reel, posted on the official Instagram account of the university’s homoeopathy department, featured students participating in a popular trend where they proudly declared, “We are homoeopaths,” accompanied by assertions associated with the practice.

Statements such as “We are homoeopaths; of course, we are the second largest system of medicine in the world” and “We are homoeopaths; of course, we prescribe medicines that have minimum side effects” were featured in the video.

However, the reel received sharp criticism from various quarters of the medical community, particularly from critics of homoeopathy, who took to social media platforms to express their dissent.

Dr Cyriac Abby Philips, a prominent hepatologist known for debunking medical pseudoscience, posted on his X account (@theliverdr), stating, “A group of students of homeopathy, because they could not get into medicine, made a video as a consolation prize for their existential crisis because the majority of the public now realise homeopathy is reckless fraud.”

Another doctor, identified as @DrSanjay277 on X, reposted the video on Twitter, adding, “Yes, we are homeopathic doctors. We use steroids and make patients’ lives miserable.”

The reel also faced backlash in the comment section on Instagram, with users questioning the scientific basis of homoeopathy and mocking its claims. Comments such as “We are homeopaths, of course, we claim to cure even cancer without any scientific evidence” and “How do you treat Cardiac arrest in homeopathy?” reflect the scepticism prevailing among some members of the medical community.

This incident underscores the existing divide between allopathic medicine and alternative medical practices like homoeopathy, with the latter often being discredited and ridiculed by proponents of the former. Notably, even the official Wikipedia page of homoeopathy describes it as a “pseudoscience”.