The Micropolitics of Healing: Post-COVID Health-Seeking in a Medical Pluralistic Setting

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Author: Afrin Mehtaj

Keywords: Post-COVID, health-seeking, biomedical treatment, complementary, alternative treatment.

Journal: Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bangladesh (Hum.) - 71(1) - June 2026

Page Numbers: 87-108

Published At: June 2026

DOI: 10.64298/jasbhum.v71i.004

Abstract:

This article explores the post COVID-19 condition of health and the health-seeking process during post COVID-19 period, primarily through Mark Nichter’s idea of micropolitics of therapy management group. Based on fieldwork at Green Road, Dhaka, this article reveals that treatment choices are determined by negotiations within households and kin members, where social relationships, resource circumstances and gendered obligations influence therapeutic decisions. Rumanucci Ross’s idea of hierarchy of resort and Ardener’s theory of muted group are also incorporated as supporting ideas in this research to understand the sequential movement across different medical systems and the gendered distinction of suffering marked in the field. The mostly manifested aftereffects of Coronavirus infection are memory loss, anosmia, fatigue, chest pain, joint pain, decreased immune system, insomnia, breathing problems, anxiety, diabetes, high blood pressure, cough, asthma, loss of smell and taste for a long time. It reveals that when people face post-COVID complications, they prefer to take biomedical treatment and medical check-ups from professional doctors. To handle post-COVID problems, some people also take homeopathy treatment and home remedies suggested by their kin network. Biomedical treatment plays a dominant role as people prioritize it due to its swift curing capability. Other medical systems, like- homeopathy, home remedies are also functioning to handle post-COVID complications. However, homeopathy and home remedies are playing as alternate medical systems in post-COVID phase. The findings indicate that post-COVID complications mostly affect female health and females suffer more from various physiological complications in comparison with their male counterparts. People think lack of proper diet and lack of care during COVID-19 infected time and in usual times, doing household work during times of sickness, make females’ health conditions more severe in the post-COVID period.