Medicines and culture--a double perspective on drug utilization in a developing country

A double perspective, one medical-pharmacological and one social-anthropological, is used to understand the logic of drug utilization among practitioners and outpatients at a health unit in Sri Lanka. Both negative and positive aspects of local prescribing practices are highlighted. Western pharmaceuticals are integrated into therapeutic choices for outpatients in Sri Lanka by means of the Ayurvedic theory of balance and practitioners' and patients' behaviour in consultations results in their expectations being met, even if they do not use the same set of health ideas and interpretations of health intervention. The healing power ascribed to Western pharmaceuticals is described and their possible risks discussed from both a biomedical and an anthropological point of view.