Three months after being diagnosed as a borderline-diabetic, Neeru Malik, a Delhi-based architect, complained of frequent bouts of drowsiness, bodyache and weakness to her physician, Dr Rakesh Gupta. A senior consultant of internal medicine at Apollo Hospital, Dr Gupta put her on a week’s medication and she is improving. But what worked were a substitute placebo — dummy pills that do not contain any drugs.

“After tests I found that her problem was psychosomatic, not clinical. But saying that she didn’t require any medicine would have made her more anxious. So I resorted to some vitamins and calcium tablets, which, according to her, worked wonders, says Dr Gupta.

Placebos are a surprisingly common prescription, according to a US study, in which nearly half of the doctors surveyed said they had doled out dummy pills. Though placebos are often used in clinical trials to compare benefits of drugs, the study illustrated their use in routine practice.

Dr Harish Sidhwa, senior physician at Fortis Healthcare, says in India, “four out of ten patients are given placebos. The act of taking a pill gives some patients an increased feeling of medical support. Only a few, very highly educated people are convinced that they can do without a medicine”.

Adds general practitioner Dr Vikram Sabharwal: “It is a very common practice. These indirect placebos have no or very rare side effects but in case of clinical disorders, where these dummy drugs are taking care of the psychological aspect of the treatment alone, proper medical intervention is a must.”

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