Positive Health Online

The work of Dr Stephen Mannion, profiled by Dr (Lord) Robert Winston on Super Doctors, aired Thursday 4 September on BBC1 Television is totally inspiring, and evidence of what an individual person can achieve, without money, resources or personnel. Dr Mannion, a medical doctor specializing in trauma medicine who has worked around the most war-torn areas of globe, currently works for 2 weeks each month in a London hospital, and the remaining 2 weeks in Malawi, one of the poorest countries in the world, where his work is unpaid.

There is no equipment, no resources, nor any trained medical personnel in the bleak wards in the Malawi hospital, filled to over capacity with patients suffering from a wide ranging assortment of medical conditions. Robert Winston was almost moved to tears to witness the appalling conditions and seriousness of patients' ailments, such as huge pressure ulcers. Dr Mannion's genius and humanity is not only his incredible capacity to innovate and improvise without money, tools or trained doctors, but also his brilliant perspective to view the situation. His requirement for treatment strategies are that they must be able to be performed without spending any money for drugs, dressings or other medicaments, they must require no more equipment than a couple of old pairs of scissors and forceps, and that they must also be able to be handled by non-medical personnel who Dr Mannion has trained himself.

How amazing to observe that, in the absence of antibiotics and ointments, Dr Mannion has improvised a locally produced and cheap formula comprised of sugar (for its antibacterial properties), glycerine (for its moisture) and Vaseline (to prevent sticking to dressings. In the absence of sterile skin grafts, Dr Mannion 're-discovered' and rehabilitated a discarded surgical grafting technique from the first world war, in which skin was removed from the patient, cut into tiny pieces and then seeded into the wound which was then covered with a dressing. Even more unbelievable yet true was Dr Mannion's adaptation of the Poncetti technique for curing club foot, without surgery, in a painless set of gentle manipulations of the infants foot, following by plaster casts, once per week for 5 weeks, followed by the use of a brace-like contraption for 3 months. The results was the complete recovery from club foot without a 3-month period, without surgery. Even more astonishing is that this Poncetti procedure has come to the UK, where it is now the treatment of choice for babies born with club foot. One such English baby's Case from club foot to total normalcy was filmed and viewed during this programme.

The humility, dedication and pragmatic genius of Dr Mannion is a shining beacon of what humanity ought to be, not the money-focused, greedy, corrupt and politically motivated majority which appear to be running our affairs. This is a man who deserves, in my opinion, whatever salary he wishes. Of course, he virtually donates his services for free.

Excellence, dedication and commitment seem to have become derogatory attributes in the current business and accounting-led climate, where making money and the bottom line appear to be more important than doing the best job possible. In fact, doing every task correctly is vitally important and an attitude of "don't care" is anathema to some of the most important qualities of our lives, including pride, satisfaction, meaning.

A prime example of the worst type of disputes which reflect so badly upon all parts of the medical profession, the media and the natural health community occurred in The Guardian published Saturday 13 Sept. The front page and pages 2-3 were all covered with the dispute between the newspaper and Dr Matthias Rath regarding the ferocious difference of opinion regarding vitamin supplements and HIV/AIDs.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/12/matthiasrath.aids2
This is a political, legal and scientific furore of the highest magnitude, having originally been sparked off by a Bad Science column by Dr Ben Goldacre. Extremely libellous statements from all sides have accused various players, including African politicians of causing death to AIDs sufferers by depriving Africans of retroviral drugs. In my own book Vitamin C - The Master Nutrient (Keats, 1991), I published evidence of the efficacy of a metabolite of Vitamin C against the AIDs virus.
http://www.drsgoodman.com/vitamin-c-chapter10.php
That of course doesn't render Vitamin C a cure for AIDs; however in the true spirit of Integrated Medicine, it is such a shame that all interested parties can't cooperate, rather than tear each other apart. Ben Goldacre's latest book Bad Science is reviewed in this Issue:
http://www.positivehealth.com/book-view.php?reviewid=221

As health professionals, our dedication to our clients comes from an inner commitment, as well as professional training. This is certainly shown throughout many of the features in this Oct '08 Issue 151 of PH Online, the first exclusively online edition of PH, including Dynamic Healing - Working at the Interface of Subtle Energy Healing and Psychotherapy by Delcia McNeil, The Spirits of Chinese Medicine and Depression by Tracey Goulding. Another key element of PH is Integrated Medicine, demonstrated in numerous features, including Reflexology as a Diagnostic Tool by Mary Martin, Treating Adenoids in Children by Elena Barbiero, Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) by Mary Miller and Fibromyalgia - Where Should Bodywork Fit into an Integrated Treatment Picture? by Leon Chaitow. Brian Rothbart's feature Malocclusions Linked to Abnormal Foot Motion is a fascinating demonstration of how the effects of abnormalities in our feet can have far-reaching consequences over the entire body – another pioneer in his field.

I realize and acknowledge the disappointment to many of our readers that we have suspended the print magazine in the current climate, and invite interested parties with the interest and resources to continue PH magazine. At the present, by focusing our energies on PH online, PH may be able to survive until we can hand it over to the next generation of publishers committed to natural healthcare approaches.