Prince Charles champions alternative healthcare

According to media in the UK, Prince Charles has commissioned a report into how the government could save money by using alternative medicine in the public healthcare system.

Prince Charles, who is a long-time advocate of complementary medicines, apparently asked a former chief economics adviser to Barclays Bank to examine whether savings could be made by avoiding traditional drug treatments for certain conditions.

Although a spokeswoman for the prince declined to comment on the report, she did say the report has not been completed yet, and to comment would be inappropriate.

But according to leaked draft conclusions of the report, it argues that the state-owned National Health Service could save millions of pounds by using alternative treatments.

Apparently up to 480 million pounds could be saved if 1 in 10 family doctors offered homeopathy as an alternative to standard drugs, and savings of up to 3.5 billion pounds could be achieved by offering spinal manipulation rather than drugs to people with back pain.

Charles has a historical reputation as an environmental crusader, but he has often been mocked in the media since he once admitted talking to plants in his garden.

He has for years championed organic food at his Highgrove Estate in western England and has warned of the "disastrous consequences" of genetically modified crops.

Last year he targeted the scientific community, by issuing a warning of the dangers of the breakthrough science of nanotechnology.

Back in February 2004, Charles said, in an article for the Guardian newspaper, that he thought it was extraordinary that alternative medicine was not available to all NHS patients.