Comparative Study of Allopathic and Herbal Medicines of Aravindh Herbal Labs (p) ltd

Dr.R.Neelamegam Emeritus Professor of AICTE, Department of Management Studies VHNSN College, Virudhunagar. B. Pavalakumar Lecturer, Department of Management Studies VHNSN College, Virudhunagar. R. Hariharan II MBA, VHNSN College, Virudhunagar.

Abstract Let the food be the medicine and the medicine be the food, exhorted Hippocrates more than 2000 years ago. During the recent past, researchers discovered concrete link between health and food. Human body needs a balanced and nutritious food to avert sickness Depending on the particular type of disease, a specific diet or treatment is required. Besides Allopathic and ayurvedic medicines, there is also herbal medicine for human healthcare. These variants in medicines show how services are improving by increasing access to health markets. This research paper presents the results of the comparative

Introduction
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness. Contemporary medicine applies health science, biomedical research, and medical technology to diagnose and treat injury and disease, typically through medication, surgery, or some other form of therapy. The word medicine is derived from the Latin ars medicina, meaning the art of healing. Though medical technology and clinical expertise are pivotal to contemporary medicine, successful

analysis Ltd.

of

allopathic

and

herbal

medicines of Aravind Herbal Labs (P)

face-to-face relief of actual suffering continues to require the application of ordinary human feeling and compassion, known in English as bedside manner. The purpose of medicine is to cure our disease and get relief it from soon. Certain medicines help in gaining back our health and immunity.

presence of one or more features alerts the physician to the possible presence of the others.

Types of medicines
The medicines are classified based on the nature of treatment into the following Allopathic Herbal Ayurvedic Homeopathy

Disease
A disease is an abnormal condition affecting the body of an organism. It is often construed to be a medical condition associated with specific symptoms and signs. It may be caused by external factors, such as infectious disease, or it may be caused by internal dysfunctions, such as autoimmune diseases. In humans, "disease" is often used more broadly to refer to any condition that causes pain, dysfunction, distress, social problems, and/or death to the person afflicted or similar problems for those in contact with the person. In this broader sense, it sometimes includes injuries, disabilities, disorders, syndromes, infections, isolated symptoms, deviant behaviours, and atypical variations of structure and function, while in other contexts and for other purposes, these may be considered distinguishable categories.

Market leaders of Allopathic medicines in India

1. Ranbaxy Laboratories 2. Dr.Reddy's aboratories Nicholas Piramal Cipla Biocon Lupin Laboratories 7. Orchid Pharmaceuticals

8. Sun Pharmaceuticals 9. Cadila Healthcare 10. K. A. Malle Pharmaceuticals Ltd 11. Green Apple Lifesciences Limited 12. Reliance Life Sciences Pvt Ltd

Herbal Medicines
Herbal medicine is a system, which uses various remedies derived from plants and their extracts to treat disorders and maintain good health. The strength of herbs lies in the unique and complex properties of the original natural substance. Either a whole single herb or a mixture of different herbs can be used. Though herbal medicine exhibits a slower and deeper action they assist the body to eliminate and detoxify thus taking care of the problem thats causing the symptoms. Herbal medicines are available as extracts, tinctures, infusions, pills, and powders.

Syndrome
In medicine and psychology, a syndrome is the association of several clinically recognizable features, signs (observed by a physician), symptoms (reported by the patient), phenomena or characteristics that often occur together, so that the

Benefits of Herbal medicine

The advantages of using herbal medicines are numerous. Herbal medicines tend to be more effective for long-standing health complaints that do not respond well to traditional medicine. Herbs typically have fewer side effects, and may be safer to use over time. Another advantage to herbal medicine is cost. Herbs cost much less than prescription medications. Research, testing, and marketing add considerably to the cost of prescription medicines. Herbs tend to be inexpensive compared to drugs. Yet another advantage of herbal medicines is their availability. Herbs are available without a prescription, and some simple herbs, such as peppermint and chamomile, can be grown at home. In some remote parts of the world, herbs may be the only treatment available to the majority of people. Many find the easy availability of herbs appealing.

medicine are themselves allopathic in that they act by opposing the patient's symptoms. Allopathic medicine is a term coined by Samuel Hahnemann in 1810 to refer to the practice of conventional medicine (and especially now referred to as heroic medicine). While this term was rejected by mainstream physicians, it was adopted by physicians with unconventional training as a pejorative term to refer to physicians who had undergone a more traditional course of education.

Research Problem
The medicines are consumed to recover from the disease and improve health. Medicine is consumed mostly based on the prescription of Doctors. Moreover, there is possibility of users to change their their friends. medicaments In certain based of on the effectiveness in curing and recommendations by cases financial constraints, there is more probability of users to switch medicines from allopathic to homeopathy. Thus, it is required to know the various reasons for which the users choose the particular type of medicine. It is also important to address the competition existing among the herbal medicines and allopathic medicines.

Allopathic
Allopathic medicine refers to "the broad category of medical practice that is sometimes called Western medicine, biomedicine, evidencebased medicine, or modern medicine". In particular, the terms allopathic medicine and allopathy may be used for regular medicine in a context of traditional medicine such as Ayurveda, as well as in a context of alternative medicine such as homeopathy. However, many aspects of traditional medicine systems such as Ayurveda or Traditional Chinese

Objectives of the Study

A comparative study of allopathic and herbal medicine was undertaken during December 2010 to January 2011 with the following objectives:

To find the preference in herbal medicines to allopathic medicines with special reference to Aravindh Herbal Labs (P) Ltd

The study has chiefly depended on primary data which were collected through a well designed questionnaire (c) Sampling: Method Area Units : Convenience sampling method is : The sampling area is : The customers of ARAVINDH : The used to collect the data. RAJAPALAYAM town in Virudhunagar district. HERBAL LABS products. Size sample size is 200 respondents. (d) Tools for analysis: Percentage Analysis Weighted average Chi-square Factor Analysis.

To identify the reasons that influence the users to choose the medicine.

To find the reasons for Chasing Aravind

herbal medicines. To identify the level of satisfaction with

features of Herbal Medicines of Aravindh Herbal Labs (P) Ltd

Hypothesis
The following null hypothesis were formulated for testing H01: There is no significant difference between the reason of easy access for using Allopathic medicine and respondents occupation H02: There is no significant difference between the reason of doctors prescription for using Allopathic and respondents occupation H03: There is no significant difference between the reason of faith in product for using Allopathic and respondents occupation

Demographic profile of respondents

males.

The majority of 51.5% of respondents are The majority of 55% of respondents are The majority of 70.5% of respondents are

from the age of 21-40 years. married.

Data and Methodology

(a) Research design : The research is descriptive design of conclusive one.

About 36% of respondents are graduates. A sizeable number of 42.5% of respondents monthly family income is below Rs.5000. Respondents of 41% are employees.

Analysis and Interpretation (b) Sources of Data: Table 1 presents the details of respondents easily consumable form of medicine Table 1

Respondents easily consumable form of medicine Form of Yes No Total Sl.No Medicine (%) (%) (%)

medicine
Sl.No 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Disease Fever Headache Indigestion Skin allergy Cold Body Pain Stomach ache Blood Clotting Wounds Yes 19.5 15 7.5 3 38.5 8 15 0 8 No 80.5 85 92.5 97 61.5 92 85 100 92 Total 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100

1 2 3 4

Tablet Capsule Syrup Drops

31 25 4.5

69 75 95.5

100 100 100 100

50.5 49.5

5 Powder 5.5 94.5 100 Source: Primary Data It is clear that the respondents easily consumable form of medicine is syrup. Figure 1 Respondents usage of medicines Doctors Prescription without

Source: Primary Data It is of clear manifestation that the respondents use herbal medicine mainly for cold, fever, head ache and stomach ache. Figure 2 depicts the respondents sources of information about Aravindh herbal products FIGURE 2

FIGURE 1 shows that a majority of 66.5% of the respondents are using herbal medicine without Doctors prescription, and 32.5% are using modern medicine without Doctors prescription. A portrait of diseases to which the respondents use herbal medicine is laid in the table placed underneath The above Figure shows that 42.5% of the respondents have known Aravindh Herbal product by friends referral, followed by 13% by earlier usage, 6% by reading from books, 27.5% by advertisements, and 13.5% by Doctors referral.

Table 2 Diseases to which respondents use Herbal

The survey noted that 32.5% of respondents have switched over from allopathic to herbal medicine for

curing skin disease. The survey also noted the respondents switch over from herbal to allopathic medicine kind of diseases Table 3
Respondents medicaments change from Sl.No Herbal to Allopathic Disease Yes(%) No(%) Total(%)

Skin 2.5 97.5 100 Disease 2 wheezing 13 87 100 3 Cold 32 68 100 4 Indigestion 18 82 100 5 Hair fall 0 100 100 6 Dandruff 0 100 100 Source: Primary Data It is clear that a sensible proportion of respondents 1 switch over from herbal to allopathic medicine for curing cold (32%), indigestion (18%), and wheezing (13%) Table 4 presents the details of respondents rating of Aravindh herbal products
Sl. No 1 2 3 4 5 6 Factors Very Good Good Neither Good nor Bad Bad Very Bad Total Taste 7 72.5 13 7.5 0 100 Odour 31 54 12 3 0 100 Price 18.5 37.5 8 33 3 100 Availabil ity 52 41 7 0 0 100 Pack aging 36.5 58 5.5 0 0 100 Efficacy in Curing 61.5 34.5 4 0 0 100

Table 4 Respondents rating Aravindh herbal product Source: Primary Data

The above table shows that 79.5% of the have rated good for Odour, 7.5% have rated good for price, 93% have rated good for availability, 94.5% have rated good for

packaging and 96% have rated good for During the study, the respondents were requested to rank reasons in order of importance for their use of herbal medicine. Reasons for using herbal product

respondents have rated good for taste, 84% effective curing of Aravindh herbal products.

Table 5

Weighted Average 0.93 0.83 0.42 0.41

About 43% of the respondents have come to know about Aravindh herbal products through their friends. The majority of 50.5% of respondents have chosen Aravindh herbal product for its effective cure. The majority of 79% of the respondents are aware of herbal tea. The majority of 55% of the respondents have used herbal tea. The majority of 73% of the respondents are unaware of biscuits. The majority of 87% of the respondents have not used biscuits. The majority of 66% of the respondents are aware of sarbath. The majority of 72% of the respondents have not used sarbath. The majority of 72% of the respondents are aware of jam. The majority of 92.5% of the respondents have not used jam. The majority of 72% of the respondents are aware of hair oil. The majority of 47% of the respondents have used hair oil.

Sl.No 1 2 3 4

Reason Effective Cure No Side effects Cheap Traditional

5 Natural 0.37 Source: Primary data The respondents choice of herbal medicine is due to the effective curing characteristic of the herbal medicine. The reason of no side effects holds second place and the cost of medicine occupies the third position for opting herbal medicine. The analysis of responses also revealed the following: About 43% of respondents are getting sick for once in two month. About 43% of respondents are always following Doctors prescription. Respondents of 44% have chosen medicine never for brand. Respondents forming 24% used Crocin without Doctors prescription. Respondents accounting for 42.5% are using herbal product for no side effects and effective cure. Cent per cent of the respondents are aware about Aravindh herbal products.

Chi square analysis

Chi Square analysis was used at significant level of 5%, to test the following null hypotheses. H0: There is no significant difference between the reason of easy access for using Allopathic medicine respondents occupation H0: There is no significant difference between the reason of doctors prescription for using Allopathic occupation H0: There is no significant difference between the reason of faith in product for using Allopathic occupation medicine and respondents medicine and respondents Chi-Square Table for Respondents reason of Doctors Prescription for using Allopathic and their occupation Table 7

Chi-Square Tests Value df Asym sig (2 sided) Pearson Chi-Square 0.711594 4 0.950 Likelihood Ratio 0.692786 4 0.952 Linear-by-Linear 0.284105 1 0.594 Association N of Valid Cases 200 a. 1 cells (10.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minim is 3.19. Inference H0 is accepted and H1 is rejected; Hence, there is no association between this reason for using Allopathic and respondents occupation Table 8

Table 6 Chi-Square Table for Respondents reason for using Allopathic and their occupation

Chi-Square Table for Reason of Faith in Product for using Allopathic and Respondents occupation

Chi-Square Value df Asym sig (2 Value Df Chi-Square Tests Tests sided) 18.33402 4 Pearson Chi-Square Pearson Chi8.901182 4 0.064 23.38774 4 Square Likelihood Ratio Likelihood Ratio 10.96749 4 0.027 4.434925 1 Linear-by-Linear Association Linear-by-Linear 0.247195 1 0.619 200 N of Valid Cases Association a. 1 cells (10.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minim N of Valid Cases 200 2.99. a. 5 cells (50.0%) have expected count less than 5. The Inference minimum expected count is .39.

H0 is rejected and H1 is accepted. Hence, there Inference H0 is accepted and H1 is rejected; so there is no association between reason for using Allopathic and respondents occupation is association between this reason for using Allopathic and respondents occupation Conclusion

From the above chi square analysis, it is found that there is no association between the

respondents occupation and their reasons for choosing Allopathic medicine.

Factor analysis
Objective Factor analysis is used as a data reduction tool to reduce the number of reasons/variables which influence respondents to choose medicine and group them as dimensions or factors. Factor analysis of various reasons which influence respondents to choose medicine Twelve reasons considered were rated on a five point numerical scale with the score of 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 for the responses Always, Often, Sometimes, Rarely, and Never respectively
.Validity Testing: KMO and Barletts test

Bartlett's Test of Sphericity

The validity of Factor analysis was tested by KMO and Barletts test. TABLE 9 As seen in the above table, the value

Ap df Sig

0.511 is satisfactory and which is not less than KMO and Bartlett's Test 0.5; hence, the factor analysis is valid / Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy. suitable.

Extraction of Factors
Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used for the initial extraction of factors. The Eigen value more than one was considered for the formation of new principal components. The factor I explained TABLE 10
V a r i a b

15.817and Eigen value 2.289.The factor I explained with variance 15.646 and Eigen value 2.079. The factor III explained with variance 12.866 and Eigen value 1.564. The factor IV explained with variance 12.789 and Eigen value 1.323.The factor V explained with variance 12.485 and Eigen value 1.097.
l

with

variance

e Total Variance Explained 1 2.289 19.076 Extraction Sums of Squared Initial Eigen values 2 2.079 17.327 3 1.564 13.032 Total % of Cumulative Total 4 1.323 11.028 Variance % 5 1.097 9.139

19.076 36.404 49.436 60.464 69.603

2.289 2.079 1.564 1.323 1.097

19.076 17.327 13.032 11.028 9.139

1 3 4 6 6

76.849 83.592 Easy access 88.494 Easy Availability 92.410 Cheap 95.366 Doctor's Prescription 97.890 Faith in Product 100.000 No side effects Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis. Effective cure After the initial extraction of factors by Traditional Principal Component Analysis (PCA), the rotation of principal component was performed by Varimax rotation method. The loadings on each factor are given in the table. The twelve reasons are reduced to five Factors and grouped as explained below. Table 11

6 7 8 9 10 11 12

0.869 0.809 0.588 0.470 0.355 0.303 0.253

7.246 6.743 4.902 3.916 2.957 2.523 2.110

1 2 3 -0.267 0.170 -0.062 0 0.042 0.368 -0.783 0 0.221 -0.171 0.083 -0 0.519 0.267 0.280 0 0.682 -0.766 0.090 0 0.478 0.515 -0.283 -0 -0.196 0.789 -0.050 -0 0.125 -0.513 0.154 0 Nature 0.190 -0.627 0.231 -0 Influence by others -0.093 -0.050 0.788 0 Earlier practice in Family 0.351 0.140 -0.185 -0 Brand -0.231 0.021 0.122 -0 Extraction Method: Principal Component Analys Rotation Method: Varimax with Kaiser Normaliza Interpretation The 12 reasons that influence the respondents

to use a particular medicine are being reduced Rotated Component Matrix to five factors Variables (Reasons) Component which are given below Table 12 Group 1 of factor analysis Group 1 Sl.No Reasons 1 Faith in Product 2 Doctors Prescribe Inference: The items in this table can be grouped under the factor name Faith in product & physician that influences the use of the product. Table 13 Group 2 of factor analysis Sl.No 1 2 Group 2 Reasons No Side Effects Effective Cure Table 15 Inference: The variables in this case can be grouped and captioned as the effective curing. Table 14 Group 3 of factor analysis Group 3 Sl.No Reasons 1 Influence by Others Inference: The items in this case can be grouped with the factor name external influence that prevails on one to use the product.

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Group 4 of factor analysis Group 4 Sl.No Reasons 1 Easily Available 2 Easy access Inference: The variables in this case can be grouped under the factor name the availability of medicine. Table 16 Group 5 of factor analysis

Factor 4 characterizes the availability of the medicine and the fifth factor stands for the other two reasons, namely, the earlier practice of the particular medicine in the family and brand of the particular medicine.

Suggestions
Most of the customers were not aware of

Aravindh Herbal Labs non medical products; Group 5 it suggests the company has to go in for Sl.No Reasons advertisements so that it can reach quite a 1 Earlier practice in family 2 Brand large number of people. Many of the Inference: The variables in this table can be customers felt that herbal medicine takes grouped under the factor name Tradition cum much time to cure than Allopathic medicine. brand name. Here, the company has the onerous task of Results of factor analysis creating awareness among the people that the In factor analysis, the reasons that herbal medicine may take more time for curing, but curing the disease will be more effective than Allopathic medicine. Free samples may be given to the people to know more about the quality of their product and also make customers to be aware that herbal medicine does not cause side effects when compared to Allopathic medicine. influence to buy a particular medicine are faith in product and Doctors prescription as they fall under factor 1. The group 2 variables are the effective nature of curing by medicine including the reasons of no side effects and effective cure.

Implications and Conclusion

The study reveals that the usage of Aravindh Herbal The external influence in choosing the medicine forms the factor three. medicines is high among the inhabitants of Rajapalayam due to their faith in the product. The awareness and usage of other herbal products of Aravindh Herbals is

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low. The usage of allopathic medicines is found to be low among the users of Aravindh herbal users. The study reveals that there is a good prospect for Aravindh herbals. The study focused on the inhabitants of Rajapalayam town alone; hence it is difficult to generalize the study results to other places. However, it is to be noted in this context, that the Government of India, for the first time, will conduct a survey on the use and acceptance of the alternative systems of medicine and utilize the results for an effective planning of a road map for Ayurveda, yoga, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy (AYUSH). The National Sample Surveys will collect data an AYUSH from 1 lakh households nationwide, in rural and urban areas from July 2011 to June 2012: and the survey results are expected to be available in 2013. And this would furnish an authenticated base level assessment from the people of the use and acceptability of AYUSH medicine. This indicates there is going to be a solid base for the use of herbal medicine not only in the study town of Rajapalayam, but also in other parts of the country.

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References

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