AYURVEDA HEALTHCARE UTILISATION PATTERN, PREFERENCES AND DETERMINANTS IN INDIA: AN INSTITUTIONAL CASE STUDY

Abstract

This paper examines over 5,03,220 institutional outpatient and 42,492 inpatient cases, and 1492 patient surveys to analyse the adoption trends and utilisation patterns of Ayurveda healthcare. The analyses reveal significant adoption of Ayurveda for various non-communicable diseases (NCDs) related explicitly to neuromuscular and neurodegenerative diseases, musculoskeletal disorders and inflammatory arthritis, among other diseases across different age groups with some gender differences in their adoption. Given that the global burden of these diseases is very high, the findings underscore the importance of Ayurveda in treating NCDs and advocating for inclusive healthcare policies and increased research for empowering patients to make informed choices that contribute to universal healthcare access.