e-News March 2013

M E N - T S E E - K H A N G (Tibetan Medical & Astro. Institute of H.H. the Dalai Lama)

e - N e w s

Men-Tsee-Khang

FREE MEDICAL CAMP

Men-Tsee-Khang held free Medical Camp in Salugara in West Bengal from 27-29 March, 2013 during His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s teachings in the area.

The Chief Medical Officer of Salugara branch, Dr. Tenzin Norbu including a team of two doctors and six staff provided health care to the pilgrims who attended the teachings.

During the three days of teaching free medicine was given to 181 patients. Charity amounting to Rs. 15,104.00 was offered to the public.

MEDICAL CAMPS

AhmedabadA medical camp was organized by the committee (Youth Club of Manavada) headed by Hitesh Chaiya at Manawarda near Rajkot city from March 9-10, 2013. It is six hours journey from Ahmedabad.

Dr. Tenzin Nyima and three staff of Ahmedabad branch clinic provided health care service to 380 patients. The committee and local people requested for continuing monthly health camps in the near future as Tibetan medicine has been highly

52 anniversary day of Men-Tsee-Khang Director Mr. Tashi Tsering Phuri, Chief Guest Mr. S.K.Sharma, Dr. Tsewang Tamdin

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beneficial to the patients.

NasikThe Navi Mumbai branch clinic of Men-Tsee-Khang held a medical camp for two days from 10-11 April, 2013 in Nasik.

Mr. Jeetu Bai in Nasik supported the medical camp during the two days. He provided free accommodations and space for the medical camp. A team of five members led by Dr. Tenzin Chodup, CMO of the branch clinic provided health care services to a total of 194 patients there.

The Nasik medical camp started since August, 2012 but the camp site was not permanent for a year. Since March, 2013, with the support of Mr. Jeetu Bai (introduced by Mr. Sanjay Shah, supporter of Malad branch clinic), a permanent place for the medical camp was organized and wish to continue with the help in the future.

Men-Tsee-Khang would like to thank Mr. Jeetu Bai for his generous support in Nasik and the Youth Club of Manavada headed by Hitesh Chaiya for the medical camp in in Rajkot at Manawarda to benefit the people in the particular areas.

52ND ANNIVERSARY

The 52nd anniversary of Men-Tsee-Khang was celebrated on 23rd March, 2013. The Chief Guest on the occasion was Dr.

S.K. Sharma, currently Chairman of the Scientific body of the Pharmacopoeia Commissionof Indian Medicine (PCIM) and Autonomous body under the

Deptt. of AYUSH, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Govt. of India, Chairman of the Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia Committee (APC). He was the Former Adviser (Ayurveda) in the Department of AYUSH, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Govt. of India.

The other dignitaries present were the Chief Justice Commissioner Mr. Ngawang Phelgyal and his associates of CTA; Prof. Mahesh Sharma, Govt. College Ayurveda, Paprola; Dr. Bhagat Sharma, CMO Ayurveda, Distt. Kangra; the secretaries of Department of Education, Public Service Commission, Department of Health, DIIR, NGO’s and media.

The ceremony commenced with the recitation of Yuthok prayers and offering of ceremonial butter tea and sweet rice. Then, the Director of the Institute Mr. Tashi Tsering Phuri addressed the gathering by welcoming Dr.

S.K. Sharma, distinguished guest, staff, students and the media. The director began the speech by an inspirational quote of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama

“Right now Men-Tsee-Khang is small facing problems in terms of finances and man power but some 30 - 40 years later Tibetan medicine will speak for itself”.

The director informed that it is a day to rededicate

our services, firmly believing in the noble goal by reminding ourselves that what we do in Men-Tsee-Khang is one of the rare treasures that can benefit humanity. He said that when holistic healing system of medicine is receiving more and more appreciation globally, we should be happy that Tibetan medical tradition stands out as one of the most well integrated healing systems.

All the Tibetan settlements in India have access to our services, and in some settlements, the head office needs to send back money more or less every month because of many charity patients. He said that so long as there are adequate number of charity patients, we will not close down loss making branches. Our effort is to do social service especially in remote areas.

A few of our branches have been established with the support of individuals who not only

have the means and heart to support but they themselves had good experience with Tibetan medicine.

The branches in Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Chennai will be upgraded and expanded, adding standard therapeutic treatments as the supporters expressed their interest to do more because they are convinced that Men-Tsee-Khang is of great benefit to a larger community.

Active plans to establish branches in countries that got independence fairly recently are also one of the upcoming ventures. We will also be more active in our outreach programmes in advanced countries and exercise Men-Tsee-Khang presence wherever legally and administratively feasible. We will also expand the need for more resource persons in search of herbs without which our effort to go global and produce more doctors will face set back.

Men-Tsee-Khang Exports in New Delhi will be expanded substantially and the newly established Men-Tsee-Khang Imports works hard to create a situation where we can import some of the ingredients not found in plenty in India.

“Men-Tsee-Khang has a good will and I know that our staff and workers will work hard effectively to maintain this asset. We started out of nothing and today we are

something to be proud off” said the Director. He thanked the staff on pension in this hall and elsewhere for their dedication and hard work because they pulled their youth even when Men-Tsee-Khang did not have the means to meet their physical needs.

The director concluded his speech by a quote from His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama “Mankind needs a healthy mind

and a healthy body and in both these areas, we Tibetans can contribute substantially although we ourselves live as refugees”.

The Chief Guest honored the staff of the Institute who completed 30 and 20 years of service; presented Bachelors Degree of Tibetan Medicine to the 15th batch medical students and Menrampa Degree to the 11th batch graduate doctors; awards were distributed to the 16th & 17th batch medical students; 7th batch astrology students and monitors of girls and boys. A new publication “collection of commentaries on Pulse and Urine Diagnosis” was launched

by the Chief Guest.

The ceremony then followed with the address by the Chief Guest, Dr. S.K. Sharma who congratulated the Institute on its 52nd anniversary founding day. He gave guidance on the qualities and ethics of a physician and the importance of the knowledge based not only on the text, but the knowledge of both theory and practical as an essential asset to the youngsters.

He also emphasized the recognition of Sowa Rigpa or Amchi as an official Indian system of medicine two years back. He said that many things have to be done to systematize the system. Now that it being a part and parcel of Indian system of medicines, nevertheless you will

get a separate identity of its own.

He congratulated the Institute that specific identity of the system, Medicine and Jyotish (Astro. science) has been kept together where as in Ayurved it has officially lost the relation with Jyotish. He said that Jyotish and Medicine have to go together. So it is good that this Institute and teaching of Tibetan medicine or Sowa Rigpa has integrated as well as taken together both these aspects.

The Chief Guest said that the different kinds especially the trans Himalayan herbs and

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plants are all the same we use in Ayurveda and Tibetan medicine. Only the Himalayan plants which are of high altitude in the area of Tibet are in addition used in the Tibetan system.

He stressed the importance on the collaboration between Govt. of Himachal Pradesh and the Institute to explore possibilities of how a good Institution can be set up. He also mentioned the significance of registration of the college and recognition of the degree. He said that we have to improve and modify the teaching trend, text book has to be improved, and if it is only in your language, it has to be converted to either Devanagari script or English.

For the degree to be recognised and given by a University or CCIM, you have to design and improve the course of the degree which suits to the degree of the comtemporary degree of Ayurveda and which is recognized under the ICCF.

The next important thing is the quality of the medicines and the official pharmacopeia: a book of standards where you can test the medicines botanically and chemically. So in order to have recognition from the government, it is essential to have collaborative ventures to systematize the system.

The Chief Guest said that “I have known associations to improve

teachings, training etc and if you need, I can help you and it is my pleasure to work with you. We are all one”.

The ceremony concluded with a vote of thanks by the General Secretary of the Institute Mr. Tsering Phuntsok followed by the prayer for the prosperity of Tibetan medicine and astrology and lunch.

The 52 anniversary was also celebrated in the different branch clinics of Men-Tsee-Khang at Navi Mumbai & Malad, Ahmedabad, Kollegal, Shimla, Bylakuppe, B a n g a l o r e , C h o g l a m s a r , Mainpat, Sera, Men-Tsee-Khang Culture Center Ladakh and Secunderabad.

Men-Tsee-Khang would like to thank all the supporters for their help and assistance to the branch clinics.

EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES

Men-Tsee-Khang College invites resource persons to give presentation and talk, so that the students get knowledge from experts who share their

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experience and research.

Greek and Islamic Medicine’s Historical Connections with Tibet: A reassessment based on Newly Available Sources. Dr. Dan Martin from Jerusalem briefed about the early history of Tibetan medicine. He explained about Giuseppe Tucci’s Tibetan Library in Europe, located to the west of St. Petersburg, towards

the middle of the 20 century was definitely one of the significant collection of Tibetan text in Europe during that time.

He said that while he was leafing through the second catalogue of the collection published in Rome, he noticed the title “Early History of

Tibetan medicine” which was listed in his biblography 6 years earlier. Athough this text is not entirely unknown to everyone he said that it has hardly ever been mentioned in any modern piece of Tibetological literature. He thinks that even during the last few centuries it has hardly ever been mentioned in the work composed in Tibetan.

He found a microphone copy of the manuscript and at the very end of the medical history by Desi Sange Gyatso written in 1704 discusses the source that he used including this particular book and also even mentioned books that he would have used available to him. Desi Sangye Gyatso names the earliest medical history under the title Rinchen Phungpa, which

is the important text he is talking about.

Dr. Dan Martin informed that the earliest history of Tibetan medicine Sman-gyi Byung-tshul Khog-dbubs Rgyal-mtshan Rtse-mo Bar-ba dates back to 1204 by Cheje Shangton Shigpo Thuje Triwoe (Che-rje Zhang-ston Zhig-po Thugs-rje-khri-od). The manuscript are preserved in the Giuseppe Tucci collection in Rome.

Critical Reasoning: A Crucial Component of ResearchJohn D. Dunne, Associate Professor, Department of Religion Emory Collaborative for Contemplative Studies; Center for Mind, Brain and Culture, Mind and Life Institute (Hadley, MA); Center for I n v e s t i g a t i n g Healthy Minds (UW-Madisong) gave a talk on Critical Reasoning: A crucial component of research on 18 March, 2013.

He explained about what is research? stages of research, bias a problem of research, attitude that causes bias and types of bias. What is critical reasoning, some areas for critical reasoning and Buddhist version of empirical stance?

The duration of the talk was for one hour and all the students, lecturers and interested persons

attended the presentation.

EXCHANGE PROGRAMME

An exchange programme between Ayurveda and Tibetan Medicine, and Siddha and Tibetan Medicine was organized by Men-Tsee-Khang in collaboration with two esteemed centers for Ayurveda and Siddha System of Medicine in Bangalore and Chennai .

BangaloreThe first interactive meet on Ayurveda and Tibetan Medicine was held at FRLHT-IAIM (Foundation for revitalization of Local Health Traditions - Instituteof Ayurveda & Integrative

Medicine), Bangalore from 5-6 March 2013 for two days.

The exchange programme was organized by Institute of Ayurveda & Integrative Medicine (IAIM) and Men-Tsee-Khang branch clinic Bangalore.

Sixeteen doctors from Men-Tsee-Khang and around eight doctors of IAIM Institute took part in the interactive program. The programme commenced

with an introductory note by Padmashri, Prof. Darshan Shankar (Vice Chairman of IAIM) followed by a visit to the CPPP Laboratory (Center for Pharmacognocy, Pharmaceutics & Pharmacology).

Dr. Venu Gopal gave an overview of the “Database of Medicinal Plants” and Dr. Noorunnisa gave an “introduction of the Herbarium”. The team from Men-Tsee-Khang visited the Herbarium & Raw drug museum (RMR).

Dr. Preethi Sudha, Dr. Balasubramani and Dr. Subramanya gave presentations on “The Science of Copper & Water”; “Dadima & Rasayana”

and “Theory of Drug Substitution” respectively. Dr. Dorjee Rabten Neshar gave a concise presentation on “the Unique features of Tibetan Medicine”.

Discussions were held between Sr. Program Officer, Center for Clinical Research, Dr. Vivek Sanker; Research Associate (CCR)Dr. Shreelatha S., and the

research doctors of Men-Tsee-Khang led by Dr. Dorjee Rabten Neshar on collaborative and integrative research projects on Tibetan medicine.

On the second day, Joint Director, Centre for Conservation of National Resources Dr. K. Haridasan gave presentation on “Knowing Agarus: Mistaken Identity”; “The identification of three Kesaras” by Dr. Tsetan Mingyur (Materia Medica Deptt. MTK); and “Whole system

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Research Methodology” by Dr. Sriranjini. It was followed by a visit to the Integrative Health care center (IHC), Physiotherapy section, Panch Karma section and Herbal Garden.

The afternoon session started with a presentation on “Preparation of Chongshi, a calcite based marvel formulation” by Dr. Jamyang Tashi (head of Pharmaceutical Deptt. MTK) and “Importance of Pulse Analysis” by Dr. Migmar Lhamo (Bylakuppee branch clinic, MTK). The two days programme concluded with a talk by Dr. Gangadharan G.G (Additional Director) of IAIM.

ChennaiThe second interactive meet on Siddha, Centre for Traditional Medicine & Research (CTMR) and Tibetan Medicine Men-Tsee-Khang was held at C.P. Ramaswami Aiyar Foundation, at Chennai from 8-9 of March, 2013.

The program was held for two days where 16 doctors from Men-Tsee-Khang (MTK) and around twelve doctors of Siddha System of Medicine from National Institute of Siddha, Siddha Medical College; Anna Hospital of Indian Medicine, CCIM E.C. member; Siddha Primary health care physicians; Varma Physicians, Researchers;

Private Practitioners and NGOs participated. Dr. T. Thirunarayanan (General Secretary, CTMR) and Chennai branch clinic, MTK

organized the programme. The exchange programme started with a welcome note by Dr. Nandita Krishna (Director of C.P. Ramaswami Aiyar Foundation); an introductory talk by Prof. K. Manikavasagam (Director of

National Institute of Siddhaand a keynote address by Mr. V. Prabakaran (Chief Conservator of Forest and Director of Sericulture, Govt. of Tamil Nadu).

Presentations on “Basis & History of Siddha and Tibetan Medicine” by Dr. T. Thirunarayanan and

Dr. Sonam Dolkar Oshoe (Documentation & Publication Deptt. MTK); “Understanding disease and diagnostic methods

of Siddha and Tibetan Medicine by Dr. R. Sudha, Dr. Thirunarayan and Dr. MigmarLhamo; Vaidya S. Usman Ali and Dr. Tsetan Mingyur (Materia Medica Deptt. MTK) on “Plant medicine resources of Siddha and Tibetan Medicine” respectively. The participants were then taken to

Sri Ragavendra Siddha Varma Hospital for field visit.

On the second day the Tibetan doctors were taken for a visit to the National Institute of Siddha (NIS) where Dr. A. Rajendrakumar presented an overview of the

Institute. They were shown around the campus, in-patient wards, clinics, and pharmacy and herbal garden of the Institute. The post lunch session began with presentations on “Role of Diet” by Dr. R. Padmapriya (CTMR) and Dr. Sonam Dolkar Oshoe; “specialty

treatment of Siddha and Tibetan Medicine” by Dr. Bhooma, Dr. T. Thirunarayanan, Dr. Siddique Ali and Dr. Tenzin Lhundup.

Both the teams had an educative interactions and expressed appreciation and willingness for future joint ventures.

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