Abstract
Background: Although traditional medicine such as AYUSH which are recognised and institutionalised by the Government of India, the propensity to deliver health services to the population as an alternative or complementary medicine is tragically poor as reported by the National Family Health Survey 3 and 4. The picture draws that traditional medicine in India may not have lost its credibility to allopathic medicine but its popularity has significantly diminished. China, on the other hand, has been successful in promoting its traditional Chinese medicine on a large scale. They have conducted clinical studies extensively and have found to be potentially useful for treating various ailments. However, in India, the study of traditional medicine has been neglected and as a result, have failed to make an impact in the global market.

Objectives: To understand the significance of traditional medicine in contemporary India.

Materials and methods: The article analysed the NFHS 3 and 4 data (individual primary data available in SPSS) conducted by the Indian Institute of Population Sciences and ORC Macro, and attempt to frame a comprehensive picture on the significance of traditional medicine in India.

Observation and result: Despite the popularity of traditional medicine across the world in recent times, the case with India suggests otherwise as only less percent availed health services from traditional medicine.

Conclusion: Data from NFHS provided that only a small percentage of people are availing traditional medicine. But in various micro-studies, the contrary is observed. Therefore this could be the result of varying technical definition adopted in the survey or further, it could drag us in to verify the authenticity of the data.

Key words: Traditional Medicine, Allopathy, AYUSH, Collaborating Center, DAI