Paper short abstract:

Concept of health and treatment process among the PTG (Hill Kharia) is depends on their indigenous knowledge with correspondence to the ecological niche. The primary health care infrastructure provides the first level contact between the population and health care providers and forms the common pathway for implementation of all health related service.

Paper long abstract:

Tribal communities are mostly forest dwellers. Their health status and medical knowledge are ages, known as "Traditional Health Care system" depends on the herbal and psychosomatic lines of treatment. Faith healing has always been a part of traditional health care practices in the tribal health care system. The common belief, customs, tradition, values and practices connected with health and disease have been closely associated with the treatment of diseases.

Despite remarkable progress in the field of diagnostics and curative and preventive health, still primitive Tribal Group (PTG) Hill Kharia are living in isolation in natural and unpolluted surroundings far away from civilization with their traditional values, customs, beliefs and myth intact and besides unaffected by the developmental process going in the developing country like India.

The health problems of Hill Kharias are influenced by various factors like social, economical and ecological circumstance. However very interesting fact that the ecological variations also play very important role in the context of health and treatment process that is very much explainable in the two Hill Kharia villages under this study.

The widespread poverty, illiteracy, malnutrition, absence of safe drinking water, poor maternal and child health service and insufficient service of national health service contributing factors to dismal health condition prevailing among the PTG Hill Kharia of Purulia, West Bengal, India.