Background: Labuhan Badas district is located 78.4 km from Sumbawa Regency, West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia with 33,967 inhabitants, 8 government primary care with no referral hospital. These data suggest the medical facility may not meet inhabitants needs for referral disease cases that cannot be handled by primary care. Objective: In this study, we would like to see about the health-seeking behavior of Labuhan Badas district due to the possibility of lack-of health-care providing system. Methods: We randomly collected data from five rural districts (Alas, Utan, Labuhan Badas, Plampang, and Sumbawa). 712 respondents filled out questionnaire about health-seeking behavior in April – June 2018. The questionnaire was translated and adapted from an International Questionnaire to Measure Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (I-CAM-Q), and had been revalidated. We also added some items questioning about obstacles of getting medical treatment in rural area, as our secondary data. We had included inhabitants aged 17 to 65 year-old as our respondents. Results: Results showed that Labuhan Badas district has been the highest rate of visiting acupuncture (28.9%; P=0.023) and traditional herbal medicine consumption (35.9%; P=0.000); second highest rate of visiting doctor (22.2%; P=0.022) and of visiting masseuse (19.1%; P=0.002); and the lowest rate of visiting shaman (7.0%; P=0.000) compared to other districts. The respondents complained about the distant location to reach health-care (22.9%; P=0.000) and high cost of health-care treatment (22.6%; P=0.003). The number of respondents went to the doctor vs. alternative treatment (396 vs. 504 preferences). Conclusion: Visiting Doctor is a common practice in Labuhan Badas district, however based on the medical practice pattern it shows that the total preference of alternative medicine is also common. Government involvement is needed to support and improve medical facility, most importantly to suppres high cost of health-care.

Keywords: Health-seeking, Labuhan Badas, West Nusa Tenggara, Rural district