Zenitha Varghese started her practice in Grand Cayman in 2001 after moving here from her native India.

Homeopathic medicine is widely used in India, and to qualify, Ms Varghese took a five-year Bachelors Degree, which covered Anatomy, Physiology and Pathology as well as specific homeopathic medicine and philosophy.

This was followed by a one-year internship. Ms Varghese graduated from the Government Homeopathic Medical College in Calicut in Southern India in 2000, and she has been registered by the Cayman Islands Health Practitioners Board.

Though she has spent the last few years living on Little Cayman, she has travelled frequently to Grand Cayman to continue to treat her patients there, practicing from Dr Krishna Mani's office in Pasadora Place.

Now, she will also see patients at Brac House in Cotton Tree Bay on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, from 8:30 am to 2:00 pm.

Homeopathy is the treatment of individuals with herbs and minerals. The medications are diluted and catered to individual needs, she said, noting that medical tests are done on humans, so there are no side-effects.

Homeopathy can be used to treat most chronic conditions, and over the years, she has had excellent results with emotional ailments like depression and anxiety attacks.

Ms Varghese has also been certified by the American Lung Association (ALA) as a Freedom from Smoking Clinical Facilitator.

Using the ALA techniques combined with homeopathic remedies, her treatment has been very successful in Grand Cayman, where she has seen more than fifty patients permanently quit smoking, she said.

Her treatment also helps with alcoholism, and she performs detoxification and cleansing programmes with herbs, she said.

According to the World Health Organization, homeopathy is the second most widely used treatment in the world after conventional medicine.

It is huge in Europe, said Ms Varghese, and has been used by such famous people as Gandhi, Mother Theresa and Queen Elizabeth.

All Indian, European and Canadian doctors would be familiar with this type of treatment, though it is not as popular in the US, she said.

It is based on the nature's Law of Cure, namely "like cures like". It is a gentle and effective system of medicine using remedies prepared from natural substances to precise standards and work by stimulating the body's own healing power, according to Ms Varghese.

Homeopathic doctors claim that to obtain the best results, Homeopathy should not be a last resort. Patients should seek treatment in the early stages.

Although, like most alternative medicine, Homeopathy has its detractors, proponents claim that it treats the patients as a whole and not just the disease. The philosophy is a holistic, totalistic and individual approach.

According to Ms Varghese, Homeopathy can cure common children's ailments, such as clods, coughs, fever, vomiting, diarrhea, dysentery, colic, tonsillitis, Asthema, measles, chickenpox and mumps.

Treatment will not have any side-effects and will not cause allergies, even if taken over a long period, she said.