Utilization of indigenous systems of medicine & homoeopathy in India.

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE Very little information is available on the utilization of Indian systems of medicine and homoeopathy (ISM&H) in India. A study was undertaken on the usage and acceptability of indigenous systems of medicine to provide estimate of utilization of different indigenous systems of medicine in the country along with the reasons for preferences as well as the cost of treatment. METHODS The study covered 35 districts spreading over 19 States of the country. From 16 major States, two districts each were selected randomly one from the list of districts with high utilization level and another with low level of utilization. From other 3 States, one district each was selected randomly. From each selected district, 1000 households with at least one sick person were covered. This was achieved by selecting 50 Urban Frame Surveys (UFS)/villages and 20 sick persons each per village/UFS. Allocation of 50 First Stage Units (FSUs) among rural and urban sectors was made in proportion to rural-urban population of the district. From selected FSUs, 20 households with at least one sick person was selected randomly. The data were collected on the health seeking behaviour of persons who were sick (with common or serious ailments) in the last three months before survey including at the time of survey. RESULTS About 45,000 sick persons from 33,666 households from 35 districts of the country were covered. The preference of ISM&H for common ailment was about 33 per cent while only 18 per cent preferred to use these systems in case of serious ailments in the country. The sick persons actually availing ISM&H treatment were about 14 per cent. Of those who preferred ISM&H, the reasons were mainly "no side effect" and low cost of treatment. Slow progress was the main reason for not preferring the indigenous systems. INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSION The findings of this study showed that about 14 per cent sick persons utilizing indigenous system of medicine. Slow progress and non availability of practitioners were the main reasons for not preferring the ISM & H treatment.