 Traditional practitioners' behavioural adaptations to changing patients' demands in Sri LankaIvan Wolffers Social Science & Medicine, 1989, vol. 29, issue 9, 1111-1119 Abstract: Patients' expectations cause traditional practitioners to adapt their method of working. They can adopt therapeutic techniques from cosmopolitan medicine. Another possibility is to raise the image of the traditional healer by stressing the differences with cosmopolitan medicine. A third possibility is to concentrate on those patients' demands not well catered for by modern doctors. The data presented are based on extensive interviews with 78 indigenous Srin Lanka practitioners, 14 which are briefly described. About 50% of the practitioners in our survey are working in cosmopolitan style. They attract more patients than those who do not and they can ask higher fees. Yet, those who still work traditionally play an important role in Sri Lanka health care. The different adaptations of indigenous practitioners to modernization reflect the changing demands of patients. Keywords: medical; pluralism; Ayurveda; indigenous; medical; practitioners; Sri; Lanka (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:socmed:v:29:y:1989:i:9:p:1111-1119 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from Access Statistics for this article Social Science & Medicine is currently edited by Ichiro (I.) Kawachi and S.V. (S.V.) Subramanian More articles in Social Science & Medicine from Elsevier |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.