Comparative morbidity profile of patients attending an Ayurveda clinic and a modern medicine clinic of a primary health center in rural Haryana, India.

Abstract

There is a paucity of data on the profile of patients accessing traditional systems of medicine. A comparison of profile of patients attending an Ayurveda clinic with that of modern medicine clinic will help in better understanding of utilization of services and preference for system of medicine by the patients seeking health care. The aim was to study the morbidity profile of patients who attended the Ayurveda clinic of a primary health center (PHC) in rural Haryana over 1 year and compared it with that of the modern medicine clinic attendees at the same facility. The study site was PHC, Dayalpur in block Ballabgarh, district Faridabad, Haryana, India. All new patients who attended the Ayurveda clinic of PHC Dayalpur in the year 2012 were included in the study. New attendees of modern medicine clinic of the same PHC in the year 2012 were used for comparison of profile of patients. In year 2012, of the total new patients registered at PHC, 26% attended Ayurveda clinic. The male-to-female ratio (0.8:1) was similar in both clinics. The representation of children up to 5 years and elderly was significantly higher (12.0% vs. 6.7% and 19.5% vs. 11.0%) in modern medicine clinic as compared to Ayurveda clinic. The most common morbidities seen in Ayurveda clinic were <i>twak vikar</i> or skin disease (12.3%), <i>sandhivata</i> or osteoarthritis (10.3%), and <i>kasa</i> or cough (8.5%). Three most common morbidities in modern medicine clinic were acute respiratory infection (35.7%), hypertension (10.6%), and acute febrile illness (9.2%). The study provided evidence that Ayurveda was popular among rural population in North India. Therefore, the Government of India's initiative of setting up Ayurveda clinic in PHCs is well founded.