NEWS October, 1999
Date: 01-05-1999 :: Pg: 05 :: Col: f
By (THE HINDU) Staff Reporter
By (THE HINDU) Staff Reporter
TUTICORIN, APRIL 30. A Tuticorin-based homoeopath has developed a new computer software-'Similinum'-recently as a step towards curing various diseases at a faster rate with higher accuracy in prescriptions in homoeopathy.
Dr. P. Subramanian, who had developed the software, claimed that 'Similinum' was the first homoeopathic software from Tamil Nadu.He gave a demonstration of the software at a function to coincide with the birth anniversary of Dr. Hahnemann, the founder of homoeopathy, here on April 25.
According to him, their resource books were full of errors which certainly could not lead to correst results. They were devoid of proper grading of symptoms to determine which symptoms were important for the selection of similinum.
The proper approach to chronic miasm, which was the trumpcard in homoeopathy for the permanent recovery of illness was also lacking. As far as the softwares developed earlier were concerned, one might require a skillful computer knowledge to operate as they had been programmed by computer experts, he claimed.Dr. Subramanian said that as a first step towards developing 'Similinum', he started compiling an error-free repertory and included in the source material more than 10,000 cross-references according to the ideology of Dr. Kent who ``revolutionised homoeopathy by publishing his repertory with grading of symptoms and grading of medicines.'' Then, after going through many books in the field, he programmed step by step to evolve 'Similinum'.
The correct procedures in homoeopathy including collection of all symptoms from the patient according to the Organon, knowing the difference and exact meaning for each sensation and pain, differentiating the symptoms by grading, omitting the symptoms common to the disease, working out repertorisation chart, differentiating the symptoms by miasm, finding out the predominant miasm for each remedy, selecting the similinum from the predominant misam's medicine, comparing the selected medicines in the Materia Medica, finding out the potency, prescribing and administering the similinum, following up according to Herring's Law of Cure and maintaining the patient's record were the main features of the Similinum software, he said. A unique feature of 'Similinum' was that its programme was so simple that anyone who knew English language could find out the correct medicine for the patient, Dr. Subramanian said.