Abstract:
Medical care is an input to the production of health. People get treatment for their health issues under
western medicine , complementary and alternative medicine. Western medicine can be identified as the most
famous and modern medical care system in the world. Complementary and alternative medicine refers to a
variety of health practices as ayurveda, homeopathy, acupuncture, herbs, yoga, etc . Considering Sri Lankan
context, with the rapid increase of ageing population, there is a growing trend in non communicable
diseases. Most of people tend to use these two systems to recover from non communicable diseases as
asthma, cholesterol, hypertension, arthritis, etc. The main objective of this study was to distinguish between
the demand for alternative medicine and western medicine related to non communicable diseases. It was
considered socio demographic and economic factors for demand in medical care for both sectors. Primary
data was based on Arogya private hospital and Siddhayurvedini private ayurvedic care institution in
Gampaha. It was selected 100 non communicable disease patients using systematic sampling method.
Logistic regression model was mainly used to distinguish between the alternative and western medical care.
According to the findings of this study, females are more likely to demand for both medical cares. Middle
age, unemployed, arthritis patient and duration of disease 2-5 years cause to raise demand for alternative
medical care. Diabetic patient, employed, believing health status as serious and having employer provided
insurance cause to raise demand for western medical care. Relative to the demand for alternative medical
care, living in rural area and lower educated people are negatively associated with demand for western
medical care.
