Lectures at the LCCH, London May1998 by Dr Parinaz Humranwala
NATIONAL JOURNAL OF HOMOEOPATHY 1998 May / Jun VOL VII NO 4.
Reported by:
Julie Plackett
This was Dr Humranwala's first experience of lecturing outside India. Having seen her lecture to students at Mumbai's Mumbadevi Homoeopathic Hospital last year, I was not surprised by the overwhelming positive reaction of my fellow students at LCCH (London College of Classical Homoeopathy). Many students requested permission to attend lectures scheduled for other classes in addition to their own, because they were so enthralled by her lively and inspiring style and felt that she had so much to teach them.
Dr Humranwala gave three lectures, which were attended by 2nd, 3rd and 4th year students over the three days. Her first lecture was about the skills of case taking, during which she emphasized the importance of attentive listening and acute observation, particularly of the patient's voice tone, sitting posture and facial expression. This is also important with children - how do they enter the clinic? With face hidden shyly behind the mother? Or forward and excited? And with babies - how do they like to be carried in the sitting position, such as the remedy Ant-tart? Whenever relevant, remedies were introduced and comparisons were made to help students distinguish between similar remedies.
Sections of a child's video case were presented. The quality of the video picture and sound were excellent; both mother and child spoke perfect English and were very easy to understand. Having agreed with the group that Belladonna was the most suitable remedy for the child, Belladonna rubrics pertaining to children were then presented.
The second lecture was based around a slide show about the skin condition Vitiligo. Dr Humranwala also talked about the mental aspects of the disease, showed photographs of her patients 'before and after treatment', and discussed a number of remedies which have been helpful in the treatment of Vitilgo.
She then showed a video case of an adopted three year old girl and managed to involve even the quietest students in the group, in suggesting possible rubrics. The final remedy choice was Carcinosin. This set the scene for the following day's lecture, which was a MM lecture on the full remedy picture of Carcinosin. Dr Humranwala presented the most complete picture I have ever heard of any remedy, using clear, concise overheads. This case was then contrasted with the case of a 4-year old boy, 'jumping jack' whose remedy we subsequently discovered was Agaricus.
The students were delighted with the level of involvement from all members of the group. Typical comments afterwards were that she is a 'refreshing change'; 'so encouraging that no-one is afraid to speak up'; 'so full of energy from? And probably the most significant comment of all, that Dr Humranwala is clearly such a dedicated Homoeopath who loves her profession and her patients and is an outstanding role model.
