Mental Health and Integration Program

Integration Program

The DoH plans to integrate the traditional system of medicine with allopathic system to heal human suffering in a most productive way. In one such step, it has organized a meeting of all the practitioners of Sowa-Rigpa, meaning the Science of Healing and to unite them for a smooth functioning of the two. On the other hand, meetings of the hospital’s Executive Secretaries are held every two to three years to modify and to adopt comprehensive policy. The traditional Tibetan therapies and allopathic system in close co-ordination work hand-in-hand in many of the Tibetan settlements.

Mental Health Program

After few studies in the early 1990s, the Department felt the need to implement a primary mental health care program in the community. All the community health workers are provided with basic training on mental health care and the selected mental health field workers are given intensive training on mental health. References are made to local Indian physicians and psychiatrists if further medication is felt necessary. In addition to psychotherapy, the Department conducts training, gives refresher course and mental health awareness talks in the communities from time to time.

Tibetan Torture Survivor’s Program

With the influx of thousands of refugees, including many torture victims, a need to set up a special program for them was felt. The Tibetan Torture Survivors’ Program (TTSP) under the Department of Health was started in 1991 with initial care provided to 12 torture victims who were provided with medical treatment. Since its inception, TTSP has provided medical and social benefits to about 600 Tibetan torture survivors, who escaped into exile. Presently the program is taking care of 451 torture victims with 150 under special care.

It is a multi-disciplinary program comprising a team of project officers, social workers, counselors, Tibetan traditional doctors, allopathic doctors and psychologists to cater to the psychosocial and mental health care needs of torture survivors through collective, integrated systems of both the Tibetan traditional medicine and modern allopathic medicine. The program seeks to reduce physical, psychosocial and psychological problems as a result of violence and politically motivated torture in prisons in Tibet.

Health Training Program

Although the Department has made considerable progress in the past 23 years, there is a shortage of key medical and health personnel at health care centers and hospitals. The main objective of the training program is to train new health staff and to improve the skills of all the existing health personnel, both in the field and at the DoH headquarter.

Community Health Workers are critical in the Tibetan health care infrastructure. Training of this cadre is one of the most important components of the DoH training program. Due to scattered nature of the Tibetan refugee community in India and Nepal with many health centers located in remote areas, a well-trained Community Health Worker is the most essential resource for providing primary health care services to the community.

The DoH’s training unit also provides various other training such as, First-Aid, HIV-AIDs, Lab., Dental, TB, RH, Refresher, Mental Health and so on.