Cobbold takes health minister to task for banning ozone therapy
KUCHING: Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak Baru ( PBDSB) president Cobbold John Lusoi is challenging the research team behind dismissing the “ozone therapy” in its entirety to also provide the damning evidence that ozone therapy, when practised responsibly by qualified professionals, causes harm to health.
He said until that time, he supported regulating the practice and vetting the practitioners, and strongly urged the health minister to consider the devastating implications of this blanket prohibition on both principled, certified professionals and their patients.
He noted that denying this therapy to those for whom standard medical treatments have failed is denying the basic human right to live and have a reasonable quality of life with maintenance therapy.
“As one who has devoted much of my life to speaking out for the community, I note with deep concern the statement made by the Health Minister Datuk Dr S Subramaniam on the blanket ban of ozone therapy, as reported in a national daily on May 3, 2017.
“I commend the minister for taking a strong stance against unqualified practitioners of ozone therapy, but I confess that I am appalled by the great arrogance and ignorance he has displayed, in dismissing ozone therapy in its entirety, saying there is ‘zero evidence of its benefit’,” he said.
Cobbold testified that he was one of those who had benefitted from ozone therapy when in 2014, he was afflicted with a serious heart condition in which he had severe ischaemic congestive cardiomyopathy.
“What it meant was that my heart was failing, which in turn was causing complications like kidney failure.
“I had immediate access to some of the best cardiologists in this country as well as Brunei, who gravely told me of my poor prognosis.
“There was no possibility of interventional treatment such as bypass surgery or angioplasty, and even simple daily activities became impossible.
“The period after I received the diagnosis was a terrible and desperate one, and I’m sure you can understand why,” he recalled.
Cobbold added that with no options from conventional treatment, he resorted to alternative treatment.
He said the therapy was something new to him then, but not new to medicine as there are over 3000 medical references in the German literature alone that show the effectiveness and safety of ozone in over five years of applications in humans.
“Therefore, I am highly skeptical of the minister’s announcement that there is ‘zero scientific evidence to support claims of any benefits from the supposed therapy’.
“I underwent a series of ozone therapy sessions together with a regime of nutritional supplements and exercise over several months. As you can see today, thanks to this therapy, I am able to enjoy the kind of life that I thought I had left for good,” he said.
Cobbold said he is still on maintenance therapy, but the point that he wanted to make is that far from being harmful, or even just safe but ineffective, the treatment that was given to him has quite literally saved him as well as had given him a new lease of life.
“I have since met many others on this healing journey for whom denial of the right to choose this therapy would be denying our basic right to health and life,” he lamented.
He said there was also ample evidence internationally to prove its efficacy, and he is ready to stand before the Minister of Health as proof.
“But if I am denied maintenance therapy the onus of my life will be on you and your ministry,” he said.
Dr Subramanian has set July 1 as the deadline for all business premises, including clinics and beauty salons that offer the service to shut down their illicit business.
In announcing the ban, he said that the Health Technology Assessment carried out by the Malaysian Health Technology Assessment Section ( MaHTAS) revealed that there was no scientific evidence to support therapeutic benefits from the therapy.
“In fact, it exposes users to the risks of bleeding as a result from the usage of heparin ( blood thinning medicine), embolism (occlusion of blood vessels from air bubbles) and infection from unsterile instruments and permanent disability resulting from impairment of organs, such as kidneys,” he was quoted as saying.
He said the decision to ban the practice was made after taking into consideration the risk of severe medical complications that it could lead to.
According to Wikipedia, ozone therapy is a form of alternative medicine treatment that purports to increase the amount of oxygen in the body through the introduction of ozone.