National Homeopathic Hospital of Mexico Is Unique in Latin America Vallarta Daily News
go to original March 10, 2022

Located at 135 Chimalpopoca street in Mexico City, in the Obrera neighborhood, you will find one of the greatest symbols of the pseudoscientific trend that landed with the arrival of Spanish doctors in the mid-1800s still thrives. More than a century and a half after those doctors introduced homeopathy in the country, the National Homeopathic Hospital (HNH) remains standing.

Although this medical institution is unique in the continent, throughout the entire region alternative medicine has a considerable degree of acceptance, as could be seen during the pandemic, when governments such as Cuba, Brazil, and Venezuela promoted unproven remedies scientifically to fight COVID-19.

“Homeopathy is very popular in Latin America because it receives great official support,” says Mexican infectologist Alejandro Macías, former national commissioner for the prevention and control of influenza AH1N. “But only in Mexico do we have a state hospital,” says Xavier Tello, a Mexican surgeon, and health policy advisor.

The National Homeopathic Hospital was founded in 1893 by order of Porfirio Díaz, two years before the president incorporated this pseudoscience into the health system and education by decree. Today it continues to operate and is the only one in the capital that provides external consultation seven days a week. The clinic, which occupies a two-story building with 28 offices, has more than a dozen medical services and specialties in general surgery, internal medicine, and obstetrics. In addition, it has its own homeopathic pharmacy located on the ground floor of the building.

“The worst thing is that it is financed with public money and has the absolute support of the authorities that govern us,” says Tello, who has been critical of the high acceptance that homeopathy has in the country for years. Although the National Homeopathic Hospital was created in 1893 as a private institution, in 1943 it joined the Ministry of Health and Assistance and today it is part of the Ministry of Health.

But the hospital is not the only Mexican institution that supports pseudosciences with public funds. “Mexico has a formal career to study homeopathy. A degree with a professional license that accredits the ability to practice as a homeopath”, explains Tello.

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