Abstract:
Ageing is considered as a natural process and a universal phenomenon. The advancement of technology and
new scientific revolution lead people to live longer with adequate facilities. Health care centres whether it may be
public or private in ownership made available to elders to get treatment to all of their acute and chronic diseases.
The study focused on the elderly people and their preference of the place for medical treatment. The study is
undertaken in two aspects such as socio-economic profile (age, sex, education, occupation, monthly income and family
type) of the elderly respondents as independent variables and places for medical treatment of elderly people as
dependent variables. A pre-pilot study was conducted prior to the study. Addalaichenai Divisional Secretariat area in
Ampara district of Sri Lanka is selected to carry out this study using a simple random sampling method. To conduct this
research successfully both qualitative and quantitative research methods were used in this study. The methods
questionnaires survey, key informant interviews and focus group discussions are used to collect primary data. The
collected data have been classified and tabulated with the help of statistical software package (SPSS). The chi-square
test of independence has also been used for the nominal data in this study. The findings indicated that the respondents
choose government hospitals, private clinics, traditional healers/ religious centres and medical shops as a place for
medical treatment. Majority 46.6 per cent of the respondents visit the government hospitals. The chi-squire test of
independence shows that there is a relationship between age, sex, education, occupation, monthly income and family
type of the respondents and the preference of the place for medical treatment.
