Differential Health Seeking Behaviour Among Local and Migrant Patients: An Empirical Study on Alternative Medicine in Odisha

Complementary and alternative medicines in the last few decades have become an essential facet of the health-seeking behaviour of people across the world. In India, with a long tradition of indigenous medicines like Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani, the gamut of alternative medicines has been covered institutionally under the name AYUSH. Significantly, because of the inequalities in the distribution of AYUSH hospitals and dispensaries across different locations, the mobility of people to avail of such alternative treatments has been on the rise. This article makes a comparative analysis of local and migrant patients who avail of alternative medicines like Homeopathy, Ayurveda and Unani. It is based on a study of 200 patients from three prominent AYUSH hospitals in three different districts of Odisha. The article evaluates socio-demographic composition, factors of consumption and availability status of alternative medicines among local and migrant patients. It is observed that a higher proportion of migrant patients are less educated, have lower incomes, suffer predominantly from chronic diseases and use alternative medicines because of experiencing the side effects of allopathic medicines. Migrant patients prefer overnight stay in the hospital wards while local patients prefer OPD. It is suggested to design policy frameworks like health camps, subsidised alternative medicines and patient consultation groups to enhance accessibility of all demographic groups to alternative medicines.