Mishra, Kusuma and Babu, Pluralistic care 61 PLURALISTIC CARE AND THERAPEUTIC ITINERARIES AMONG A MIGRANT TRIBAL COMMUNITY IN AN EASTERN INDIAN CITY

In medical pluralism, issues of the selective use of one sort of healer over another and what makes people opt for a specific source of health care are important. In this article, we discuss the availability of different health-care alternatives, the conditions that lead the health-care seeker to choose them and ‘therapeutic itineraries’ among a migrant tribal community living in an eastern Indian city. A mixed methods approach, combining quantitative and qualitative research techniques, was adopted. Different sources of health care, conditions of illnesses for which people sought treatment and treatment-seeking behaviour in relation some common illnesses are examined. The source of treatment depends upon the type of illness, its symptoms and perceived severity. The reasons for pluralistic care-seeking are the failure of modern medicines and the perceived causes of illness. This has created dilemmas for people and often led to pluralistic care, which is sometimes pragmatic.