Topeka ? After years of waiting, naturopathic physicians are on a fast track toward licensing in Kansas, though big obstacles remain.

With Lawrence naturopaths Mehdi and Farhang Khosh, Peter Kimble and Elise Nelson looking on, a Senate committee approved a bill licensing naturopathic physicians.

The measure on Wednesday arrived to the full Senate, which will debate it soon  possibly this week.

Sen. Chris Steineger, D-Kansas City, who supports the bill, predicted a lobbying offensive against it from associations representing medical and osteopathic doctors, which testified against the measure.

“It’s going to be World War I in the Senate and World War II in the House,” Steineger said.

Sen. James Barnett, R-Emporia, a medical doctor, says naturopathic physicians should be licensed, but he opposes the bill because it allows naturopathic physicians to administer intravenous medications and general anesthetics.

“I’m not comfortable with the patient safety issues,” Barnett said.

But Sen. Susan Wagle, R-Wichita, chairwoman of the committee that recommended the bill’s approval, said the measure “recognizes naturopathic physicians as a legitimate part of the health-care team.”

The Khosh brothers and other naturopaths have been pushing for state licensure of their profession because they say it will protect the public from improperly trained naturopaths.

Licensing naturopaths also will help integrate naturopathy into the established medical system, they said.

Under the bill, a naturopathic physician would have to attend a four-year graduate-level naturopathic medical school. Established naturopathic doctors, or N.D.s, say they study the same basic science as a medical doctor but also study holistic approaches to therapy including nutrition, acupuncture, homeopathic medicine, psychology and counseling.

During hearings on the bill, patients and individual medical doctors vouched for authenticity, including Jeanne Drisko of the Kansas University School of Medicine.

But those different approaches to treating patients are vexing some lawmakers. Sen. Pete Brungardt, R-Salina, said, “I don’t disrespect what they’re doing. I clearly don’t understand it.”

Steineger, however, said, “It boils down to whether you trust these people or don’t. They’re going to be watched like hawks.”

Wagle noted that even though the Kansas Medical Society and Kansas Association of Osteopathic Medicine have testified against the bill, many members of those groups favor licensing naturopathy.

Katherine Elston, manager of Via Christi Integrative Center in Wichita, where Mehdi Khosh practices one day a week, testified in favor of the bill.

“Licensure for naturopathic doctors simply allows the public to access this service with the knowledge that these professionals are well-trained and held accountable for their professional conduct,” she said.