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From : StichtingIOCOB
Added: Dec 24, 2008
Impression of Bhutan: Bhutan, the Land of the Thunder Dragon, is no ordinary place. This is a country where buying cigarettes is illegal, where the rice is red and where chillies arent just a seasoning but the entire dish. Its also a deeply Buddhist land, where men wear a tunic to work, where giant protective penises are painted on the walls of most houses, and where Gross National Happiness is deemed more important than Gross National Product. In 1907, after several centuries of divided rule by various influential families, his majesty Gongsar Ugyen Wangchuck unified Bhutan under the name of Druk Yul Land of the Thunder Dragon. The year 2007 will mark 100 years of monarchy in Bhutan. But as the year 2007 is a very inauspicious year according to the Bhutanese calendar it will be only in 2008 that Bhutan will celebrate the 100 years of Kingdom. Many festivals and much revelry have been planned to celebrate this momentous occasion. Visitors to the Kingdom in 2008 will be given a unique opportunity to experience the real Bhutan through the Centenary maxim of Meet the Bhutanese. Visitors will be given the chance to immerse themselves into the soul of Bhutan through things such as the opening of areas normally closed to tourists, and the development of specialty tour programs. For those yet to experience the magic that is the Kingdom of Bhutan, 2008 presents the perfect opportunity. In november 2008 an expedition of two members of the Foundation IOCOB went to Bhutan to look for the roots of Bhutanese Traditional medicine. While lunching at a small village, they noticed a triple railbow at the other side of the river, above a small temple. This rainbow emerged trice. This tempel was unkown to us and we suggested our guide to pay a visit to that temple. It appeared to be a very good move. We discovered an upto now unkown or forgotten element in Bhutanese history of its royalty and its medicine. We travelled to that seemingly unimportant temple, by a sandy road, by foot, as the road was small and slippery. At the top of the mountain we reached two praying weels and the temple itself. After waiting a while an old monk appeared and we spoke to him about the history of the temple. Its name was Bajo temple and its history began around 50 years before the coronation of the first king of Bhutan, around 1850. The emergence of modern Integrated Medicine in Bhutan Drungtsho Gyeltshen was a a traditional medical doctor and the personal physician of the father of the first king, the governor Jigme Namgyal. Drungtsho was born in the same district were we found the temple, Trongsa, and was trained in Tibet in the famaus Lhasa medical school of Chagpori. His son became a doctor too, and also studied at Chagpori and was called to serve at the court of the second king of Bhutan, Jigme Wangchuck. This lineage of kings in Bhutan formed the base of the current health system of Buthan, as the third king, Jigme Dorji Wangchuk commanded the Health Department of Buthan in November 1967 to establish a traditional medicine system as wel as an integrated medicine system in Buthan, and since then traditional medicine and regular medicine are united in each hospital in Buthan. On 28th of June, 1968. an indigenous dispensary was opened in Thimpu, the capital of Bhutan. Two well trained healers supported the first steps towards integrated medicine in Bhutan. The first healer was the drungtsho (traditional healer) Pema Dorji, who graduated at the medical institute in Tibet, Chagpori and he was commanded by the third king of Buthan to institutionalize and enhance the age-old traditional medical system. A second drungtsho, Sherab Jorden, the personal healer to an important lama, initiated the development of the Materia Medica. In 1979 the idigenious dispensary was upgraded to the National Indigenious Hospital, which was renamed in 1988 to the National Institute of Traditional medicine and in 1998 into the Institute of Traditional Medical Services. The flora of Bhutan is quite special, due to climatic cirtcumstances, and clearly can be of use for the development of future meicines source:www.tourism.gov.bt
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