Table 3 Crude utilizations of Chinese and Western medicine under the NHI program, 1997–2003 (total population = 136,720)

Year

No. of users

No. of visits

Mean ± SD

Median

Mode

Hospital (%)

Clinic (%)

Chinese medicine

1997

36,372

181,109

4.98 ± 6.59

3

1

7,060 (3.9)

174,049 (96.1)

1998

37,622

189,330

5.03 ± 6.60

3

1

7,709 (4.1)

181,621 (95.9)

1999

39,635

196,908

4.97 ± 6.36

3

1

9,461 (4.8)

187,447 (95.2)

2000

40,227

188,713

4.69 ± 5.81

2

1

10,330 (5.5)

178,383 (94.5)

2001

40,425

187,198

4.63 ± 5.73

3

1

10,865 (5.8)

176,333 (94.2)

2002

40,833

191,251

4.68 ± 5.82

3

1

12,617 (6.6)

178,634 (93.4)

2003

41,823

206,777

4.94 ± 6.45

3

1

11,497 (5.6)

195,280 (94.4)

Western medicine

1997

115,833

1,486,570

12.83 ± 13.82

8

1

478,493 (32.2)

1,008,077 (67.8)

1998

118,504

1,553,383

13.11 ± 14.07

9

1

509,743 (32.8)

1,043,640 (67.2)

1999

120,362

1,606,111

13.34 ± 13.85

9

1

549,420 (34.2)

1,056,691 (65.8)

2000

120,982

1,552,771

12.83 ± 12.92

9

1

554,656 (35.7)

998,115 (64.3)

2001

121,190

1,533,878

12.66 ± 12.97

9

1

583,055 (38.0)

950,823 (62.0)

2002

121,605

1,545,956

12.71 ± 13.23

9

1

610,399 (39.5)

935,557 (60.5)

2003

120,926

1,517,722

12.55 ± 13.69

8

1

568,128 (37.4)

949,594 (62.6)