IMAGE OF SOME EXISTING MEDICAL SYSTEMS AMONG INDIAN RURAL COMMUNITES

Though a number of medical systems grossly prevails in Indian rural communities, this empirical Socio-medical study makes an attempt to examine the comparative suitability of various systems among them. The parameters adopted in evaluating the suitability of different systems were (a) peoples’ perception of the capacity of these individual systems to cure the illness (b) the economic dimension of the system and (c) the cultural compatibility of the system. Among other findings the study reveals that the Ayurvedic system scores highest in the scale of suitability.