Mumbai, Feb 20 (IANS): An association of medical practitioners in Maharashtra Friday urged the government to utilise homoeopathy to combat the swine flu epidemic that has gripped many parts of India.

The H1N1 virus has already claimed around 700 lives in the country, including 10 in Maharashtra. A total of 182 more cases have been reported in the state.

Anwar Amir of the Maharashtra University of Health Science and secretary-general of the Homoeopathic Post-Graduate Association (HPGA) said many states were under siege with a high mortality rate of H1N1 cases at around seven percent.

"Unfortunately, there is no vaccine in the market, any form of preventative or curative treatment available in allopathy. This has created lot of apprehensions among the people, but homoeopathy has an effective treatment," Amir told a media gathering.

Detailing the record of homoeopathic treatment including during the Spanish flu of 1918 that affected around 50 million people globally, he said homoeopathy had brought down the mortality rate from a staggering 30 percent to 1.05 percent with proper use of Genus Epidemicus.

He said the Genus Epidemicus homoeopathic remedies include medicines like Aconite, Arsenic Alb and Aviaire which were effective also for the current swine flu epidemic based on its presentation from the beginning to the last stage of the disease.

"We have already written to the union health ministry, Maharashtra health ministry, director-general of health services and other authorities, stressing the need to include homoeopathic preventive and curative medicines in the treatment regime. At the rate at which the disease is spreading, we cannot afford to lower our guard," Amir said.

Other homoeopaths like Kishore Mehta, P.P. Page, Swati Bhagwat, Sanjeev Dole and Satish Gala also spoke about various facets of the disease.