Don’t read too much into National Sample Survey Organization survey results

211 Sir, This is in response to the recently published results of 71 st round of the survey conducted by the National Sample Survey Organization highlighting the Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, Homeopathy and Sowarigpa (AYUSH) use among the Indian citizens. As soon as these results were released, all the major national newspapers carried the story emphasizing the fact that 90% of Indians preferred allopathy over AYUSH. Following this, huge discussions and debates started all around the nation. For instance, the Times of India carried the " times view " and " counter view " on the following day, wherein the future policy decisions that the Government of India needs to take were suggested on the basis of these results. In this communication, I argue that one must not read too much into these results. This survey is not worthy to be taken note of as far as the policy decisions on AYUSH sector are concerned. The survey has only evaluated the social consumption of industrially produced AYUSH products in our country. The survey was not aimed at evaluating how much should the funding of AYUSH Ministry be, or whether the Ministry of AYUSH should continue to exist or not? If it is just the survey of social consumption of AYUSH products, then it is not the right survey to be used for formulating the policies related to the funding of AYUSH, because AYUSH is not just about marketed products. The situation became so grave that some of us even jumped on to suggest that the AYUSH Ministry must be removed. The content of the survey and the context in which it was performed were not meant for these interpretations. The survey was not done in a suitable manner, with appropriate tools and right means to arrive at the conclusions that we are arriving at. We need to have the right perspective from which this issue should be viewed at. For instance, the title of the survey itself reveals many vital facts: " Key indicators of social consumption in India: Health. " [4‑6] Hence, it was a " consumer survey " with its objectives and focus on understanding the " expenditure " of the consumers and " health " was only a part of it. With a survey having focus on the consumption, we cannot take policy decisions related to the funding and existence of AYUSH Ministry because these …