the chronic diseases like cardiovascular diseases , diabetes and cancer contributes to almost half of the all - cause mortality in india . weighted prevalence of ischemic heart diseases was observed as 25.3/1000 population , and 118.0/1000 population for diabetes mellitus in an urban area of india . it was observed due to common risk factors like physical inactivity , unhealthy diet , tobacco use and stress . along with growth and development , reduction in common risk factors was considered to be one of the essential preventive and control strategies for chronic diseases . like modern medicine , the complementary and alternative medicine ( cam ) - ayurveda ( knowledge or science of life ) - primarily concerned with the body . it had been mentioned in ayurveda , about the three pillars for healthy and long life ; proper diet ( ahar ) , proper activities ( vihar ) , and divine life - style and control of sexuality ( brahmacharya ) . improper and unbalanced diet like undigested , junk , and accumulated food was also considered toxic for the body . ayurveda had been oldest and most organized scientific discipline , which was providing health - care . once upon a time , their classical text like charak samhita ( 100 ad ) is an excellent source of information about the holistic health , herbs , diseases , and surgical treatment for the entire country and the world . like yoga , ayurveda derived its origin to the hoary vedas and considering one of the sub - vedas ( upa - veda ) . therefore , its traditional holistic approach and principles observed to be have a potential in order to reduce the risk factors of chronic diseases in the community . it was already evident that cam had been widely used in africa ( 80.0% ) , australia ( 49.0% ) , indonesia ( 40.0% ) , france ( 75.0% ) , and even in united states ( 29.0 - 42.0% ) . in india as well , people are using the cam services through 2860 large hospitals across the country . cam has been integrated into primary health - care of the country under the national rural health mission . pattern of reported diseases at the cam facilities has not been shared with the modern medicine in india despite the provision of care to a significant group of the population . therefore , the present study was undertaken to describe the clinical profile of patients with chronic diseases at a tertiary care ayurvedic hospital in north india . the study was a part of assignment for the fellows appeared for 3 months course on  non - communicable disease and health promotion  at department of community medicine , dr . total 4 fellows appeared for the course and a 1 month field based assignment was allotted . during the course period fellows were assigned a mentor and a topic for study . present study was hospital based record based descriptive study carried out at department of kayachikitsa , rajiv gandhi post graduate ayurvedic college , kangra , himachal pradesh . as per census 2011 , the provisional population of the himachal pradesh was 68 56 509 ( 49.3% females ) and 15 07 223 ( 50.3% females ) of kangra district of the state . complied monthly data were accessed from the outpatient department ( opd ) records section from january 2011 to october 2011 . a single person collected the number of patients with an available diagnosis for every month . in addition , 30 case records ( patient file ) of admitted patients of hypertension and diabetes mellitus were selected randomly - using a random number table - from the inpatient department ( ipd ) . a total 30 case records were decided to study treatment practice at a tertiary care center . data were entered and analyzed by epiinfo 3.2 statistical software . before the data collection , ethical clearance form institution ethics committee and consent from studied health institutions was obtained . significantly ( p = 0.00 ) more males ( 51.1% ) reported at opd more than males . total 10,276 ( 15.8% ) children up to 5 years of age also sought treatment . almost half ( 53.1% ) of the patients were remained unclassified and kept under  other category . commonly reported morbidities were related to respiratory ( 10.5% ) , neuromuscular ( 9.5% ) , digestive ( 9.2% ) , circulatory ( 9.1% ) , and eye ( 8.4% ) system . monthly trend of reported patients in the opd of kayachikitsa at rajiv gandhi post graduate ayurvedic college , kangra , himachal pradesh , 2011 ipd records of 30 hypertensive patients at ayurvedic tertiary hospital showed that the chest pain was the chief complaint ( 63.3% ) with mild to moderate intensity ( 70.0% ) and of radiating ( 56.7% ) in nature . it was observed that more than half ( 56.7% ) of the patients sought treatment from private practitioners before the admission [ table 2 ] . admitted patients had a history of hypertension for average 9 months and were on regular treatment for 21.3% of disease duration . diabetes mellitus had long standing history of average 145 month among the admitted patients , and since diagnosis ( 90.3% ) were on regular treatment . majority of patients with hypertension were being managed with aswaganda ( 66.0% ) and tagar powder ( 56.6% ) . symptomatic and management profile of patients in ipd of kayachikitsa at rajiv gandhi post graduate ayurvedic college , kangra , himachal pradesh , 2011 elevated blood pressure along with overweight and high cholesterol is a known risk factor for many chronic diseases . the chronic diseases are contributing about 46.0% of the all - cause mortality in india . evidence from india reported prevalence of chronic diseases up to 30.0% in the general population . it had been found to be prevalent in urban ( 36.4% ) along with slum ( 25.4% ) and rural ( 24.0% ) area . the present study at rural tertiary care health institute of ayurveda , showed that most of the patients were suffering from disorders related to respiratory , neuromuscular , and circulatory system , mostly suggestive of chronic diseases . based upon the grouped opd data it was observed to be difficult to further ascertain the causes of morbidity such as heart attack , brain attack , diabetes mellitus etc . , majority of patients were even not classified at all despite the complete diagnosis at the opd . it hindered the information that could ascertain that whether these patients were affected with the exact cause of chronic or acute disease . in the studied state , a total 27 ayurvedic hospitals with 580 beds , 1105 dispensaries and 7326 registered practitioners exist at the time of study . in the country , a total of 254 graduate and 64 post graduate ayurvedic colleges were producing 1197 under and 1110 post graduates every year . in addition , a total of 2458 hospitals with 44820 beds , 15353 dispensaries , 478750 registered practitioners . in ayurveda , dietary factors like unhealthy diet considered as a known risk factor for chronic diseases like consumption of high glycemic index , junk and salted food . however , food was being considered as medicine in ayurveda like barley / turmeric for obesity , kulatha for rheumatoid arthritis , ashwagandha as a general tonic . ayurveda had been playing a vial - role in the provision of treatment for common morbidities in india . ayurvedic products like jams , jellys , juices , biscuits , ice - cream , candies , chocolates , granules , flour , tea etc . , were recommended as healthy food and to be promoted to the crowd out the junk food in the existing market . therefore , with a vast human resource and the available ayurvedic treatment potential in the country , the rising trend of chronic diseases due to non - healthy life - style and dietary behavior could be managed successfully . furthermore , the actual burden and types of chronic disease in cam discipline need to be studied and shared . in this respect , standard method of case reporting modified as per the discipline to integrated disease surveillance project ( idsp ) at all levels and types of cam health facilities would certainly help to capture exact disease burden . as , government of india had already declared the mainstreaming of cam in modern health - care delivery system as it had recommended by appointment of at least one cam specialist at the community health center . ayurveda was being the oldest and the largest cam discipline in india , so , the integration of information from the ayurvedic health institution through idsp would be required to help for formulation of healthy public policy .