India Ayush Healthcare: 46% Rural, 53% Urban Use Traditional Medicine

New Delhi, Jun 13 (PTI) Almost every second individual in India used Ayush healthcare system, as a government survey found that 46 per cent of rural and 53 per cent of urban individuals used this traditional medicine system.

Ayush healthcare system includes Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy.

The first exclusive all-India survey on 'Ayush' was conducted by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) from July 2022 to June 2023 as part of the 79th round of the National Sample Survey (NSS), an official statement said.

According to the statement, this survey covered the entire country, excluding a few inaccessible villages in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

Information was collected from 1,81,298 households, including 1,04,195 in rural areas and 77,103 in urban areas.

As per the study, approximately 95 per cent of rural and 96 per cent of urban respondents are aware of Ayush.

At least one member is aware of medicinal plants/home remedies/local health traditions/folk medicine in about 85 per cent of rural and 86 per cent of urban households.

Ayurveda is the most commonly used system across rural and urban areas for treatment.

Ayush is predominantly used for rejuvenation and preventive measures.

Additionally, the survey gathered information on household expenditure for treatments using Ayush medicine systems.

A stratified multi-stage sampling design was used in the survey on Ayush in which villages in the rural areas and urban frame survey (UFS) blocks in the urban areas or sub-units (SU) of villages or UFS blocks were regarded as the first-stage units (FSU).

The ultimate stage units (USU) were households in both sectors. Simple Random Sampling Without Replacement (SRSWOR) was used for the selection of the FSUs as well as households from the chosen FSUs.

Use of the Ayush system of medicines refers to the use/adoption of one or more of the system(s) of Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha, Sowa-Rigpa and Homeopathy for treatment/cure of diseases/ailments or for prevention of diseases/ailments on the advice of a medical practitioner/instructor.

This will also include home-based remedies/self-medication/self-treatment used by a member of the household knowing the preventive or beneficial effects of the treatment/medication.