 "Ayushman Bharat")
Ayurveda is the most commonly used Ayurvedic system for treatment, with 40.5% and 45.5% of respondents from rural and urban India, respectively, saying they use Ayurveda for treatment.
According to a survey released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), around 46 percent of rural Indians and 53 percent of urban Indians have used Ayurveda for prevention or treatment of illness in the past year.
Ayush refers to six Indian systems of medicine – Ayurveda, Yoga, Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, Sowa Rigpa and Homeopathy – that are predominantly popular in India.
Among the Ayush systems, Ayurveda was the most commonly used system for treatment, reported as such by 40.5% and 45.5% of respondents from rural and urban India, respectively.
The survey found that the main reasons given by households for receiving Ayush treatment in the past year included improved effectiveness of the Ayush healthcare system, fewer side effects, availability of individualised personal care and satisfactory past experience.
Surveys suggest that around 95% of India’s rural population aged 15 and above are aware of Ayush, while in urban areas the figure is 96%.
According to the MoSPI report, 79% and 80% of rural and urban households in India have at least one person who knows about medicinal plants and home remedies.
“Around 24 per cent of households in both rural and urban India have at least one member who is aware of folk remedies or local health traditions,” the report added.
The findings are part of the first-ever exclusive all-India survey on Ayush, conducted by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) between July 2022 and June 2023 as part of the 79th National Sample Survey (NSS).
The survey covers the entire country and collected information from 181,298 households, including 104,195 rural and 77,103 urban households.
First Edition: June 13, 2024 | 11:12 PM IST
