Knowledge and Practices of Unani Medicine among Patients Attending OPD at a Tertiary Care Hospital in North India

Abstract

ntroduction: Unani medicine is one of the most commonly practiced form of traditional system of medicines in India. There is dearth of published data showing the knowledge and practices of general population about Unani treatment modality. Objectives: To evaluate the knowledge and practices and to determine factors associated with the use of Unani medicine in participants attending Unani Out Patient Department, at a tertiary care hospital. Materials and Methods: A hospital based cross-sectional observational study was conducted in a tertiary care hospital to assess the knowledge and practices of Unani system of medicine among 365 participants attending the out-patient department between July 2019 to September 2019. Result: Out of 365 subjects 51% were males and 49% were females with mean age 40.15 ± 14.62 years, ranged between 16 to 90 years of age. Of the 365 participants, majority of patients were aware of Unani medicine, 75.1% of the patients came to know about Unani Medicine from sources such as family, friends and neighbours and 73.9% believed that Unani medicine is effective. Although their practices of Unani medicine were limited. Conclusion: OPD attenders had very good awareness about Unani medicine, however, limited practices were observed among them. Therefore, promotion of Unani healthcare through evidence-based practices is required for better acceptability among people.